Harbour Grace getting serious about messy properties

By Craig Westcott \ May 26, 2023

They’re not identifying them publicly, but Harbour Grace council decided Tuesday to start getting tough with the owners of dilapidated houses and businesses and people who are leaving big messes outside their properties.

“We’ve had a lot of posts and letters and correspondence regarding the state of properties,” said councillor Brendan Chafe, who chairs the housing, environment, and sanitation committee.

Chafe then served up two motions, one pertaining to residential properties, the other directed towards businesses. The one for homeowners authorizes the Town Manager to send registered letters to the owners, by way of the Sherriff’s Office, ordering a cleanup within seven days, or a signed agreement specifying a completion date for a cleanup.

The motion regarding business properties authorizes the Town Manager to again send a registered letter, by way of the Sheriff’s Office, ordering the property owner to start a cleanup within 30 days or to sign an agreement with the Town specifying when the property will be brought up to scratch.

“That also pertains to messes on properties and things like that,” said Chafe, “and they’ll be identified by our Town Manager.”

Both motions passed unanimously.

“It’s unfortunate we have to do this in our municipality, and in all municipalities,” said Mayor Don Coombs. “But we’re going to continue to work to get the town cleaned up.”

Council also unanimously approved a third motion by Chafe, this one to send photos and a letter to the ministers of Environment and Municipal Affairs regarding an abandoned commercial property, “looking for advice, or a resolution on the state of the dilapidated building and the property surrounding as it has become a matter of public safety.”

Chafe explained he wasn’t identifying the property publicly because he was unsure how much information the Town can reveal. “But we can’t have certain buildings with graffiti of satanic and racial slurs, and three walls held open,” he said. “I don’t know how far, or what we’re able to do as a Town, or what we’re allowed to do, but something has got to give at some point. I mean it’s there now with sinkholes in the parking lot. Someone is going to get hurt there sometime.”

Coombs said Chafe was doing the right thing by asking council to write the provincial ministers. He noted the Town has also written Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador for advice on how much leeway it has to address the problem but hasn’t heard back yet.

Later in the meeting, Mayor Coombs raised a beef of his own when it comes to trash.

“The state going into Incinerator Road is deplorable,” said Coombs. “It’s disgusting, it’s not fit.”

Coombs said the Town will contact the chairman of Eastern Waste Management, which manages the former town dump on Incinerator Road that is now used as a garbage transfer site, asking the government-appointed commission to take action. 

The problem is caused by people dumping bulk items outside the gates of the facility when it is closed.

“I drove in there last week on a call from a resident from a neighbouring community,” the mayor said. “And to see chesterfields, and toilets and hot water boilers and everything just thrown on our property. And it’s our property. That can’t continue, folks. If it’s not open, bring it back, find out what the hours are. If you come from anywhere and throw it on the side of the road, somebody else is going to see it, and it’s up to us municipal leaders to put something in place. That has to stop, it has to cease, and I encourage anybody, if you see someone throwing stuff off, call the council office and we will call the RCMP. You wouldn’t want it in your backyard and we don’t want it in ours.”