Two Kitimat properties were placed under remedial action orders after Kitimat council approved motions earlier this month to deal with nuisance and safety concerns.
The first property, located at 31 Egret Street, had drawn repeated complaints and was under a cleanup order in 2023. A staff report said the property has piles of debris that can be seen from a public walkway. Items like scrap wood, tires, and garbage bags were flagged as a nuisance and a safety hazard.
The homeowner was given 30 days to clean up the property. If that does not happen, the District could remove the materials and bill the owner for the costs.
District of Kitimat mayor Phil Germuth said council is taking a much stronger stance on these issues.
“We do have bylaws on how yards are supposed to be kept, and we’re now starting to get very serious about a number of derelict houses and properties in the community,” he said. “Usually, your ticket is just warnings, but now we’re seeing that that’s not really working so well, so we need to take remedial action on some properties.”
He said the Egret Street property was also a safety concern.
“The accumulated items at that property create a hazard for any first responders who may have to attend the house.”
The second property, located at 76 Capilano Street, was declared a nuisance because of its poor condition. The owner was given six months to either repair and repaint the house or demolish it. If not, the District could step in and recover costs through property taxes.
Germuth said that while this case did not pose an immediate safety risk like the Egret property, it still impacted the surrounding neighborhood.
“At the Capilano house, the condition of the property has made it a nuisance, but unlike the Egret one, that house didn’t entirely fit as a property with hazardous conditions.”
Germuth also noted that many of the complaints that reach the District about such properties come from nearby residents who have to see them every day.
“If you take care of your yard and everything, but you’re beside this other property that has not been taken care of at all, your property value, should you try and sell it, is affected. And of course, it’s just having to look at an eyesore all the time.”
Germuth also spoke about the need to balance enforcement with empathy for property owners who might be facing challenges. He said council always tries to understand individual circumstances, but emphasized that some situations have become too serious to ignore.
“We always want to have some compassion and understanding,” he said. “A lot of that has to do with, maybe if people haven’t mowed their lawns and little things like that. Some of the ones here are definitely much more serious than that.”
As for what comes next, Germuth said these two properties are just the start of a broader cleanup effort council plans to continue. He said both staff and council are prepared to take action on more sites if necessary.
“In the end, the goal is to have your community looking nice. Being presentable”
Council expects more properties will be brought forward in the coming months as staff continue to identify other nuisance or derelict sites across Kitimat.
