Summerside wants meeting with Pope Road property owner

SUMMERSIDE — City councillors are calling for a sit-down meeting between the owner of an industrial property on Pope Road in Summerside and senior staff at city hall.

The property, the former government garage, was partially damaged by fire in January 2019 and, according to the city, has only had minor repairs since.

The owner is a contractor of Island Waste Management Corporation.

Citing concerns about the safety of the people who continue to work on the site, and the general unsightliness of the fire-damaged building, council issued a notice in the fall to the property owner under the Dangerous and Unsightly Premises Bylaw.

That notice gave the owner a set number of days to carry out any needed remediation and failure to do so would give council the authority to authorize a demolition.

To date the structure has still not received significant repairs and the timeline that was given has now expired.

However, city staff have been in contact with the owner and are aware efforts to get the work done have been hampered by a number of circumstances, including a provincial stop work order which delayed the project and caused the contractors that had been hired to do the work to move on.

The owner has been unable to find anyone to replace them.

The question many councillors wanted answered during their recent committee meeting was, “what now?”

“So where do we go from here,” asked Coun. Bruce MacDougall.

“It seems like it’s just going on and on and on, and I know the city is doing everything they can – but something has gotta give here. It’s a disgrace.”

Gordon MacFarlane, the city’s director of legal affairs, told councillors that their three options were to continue to work with the property owner and “hope it gets done”; to pay to have the building demolished and bill the owner; or to pay to have the building repaired and again bill the owner.

He warned the second and third options have the potential for that process to be contested in court.

Deputy Mayor Norma McColeman commented that council wants to find a solution that works for both parties, but she also stressed council needs to send a strong message that unsightly properties will not be tolerated.

“It’s sending a message that we just keep over and overlooking the other way in the hopes that it will work together. And I know staff have really tried to work through this, but maybe it comes to the point where we do have to send that very solid message and make some decision on it,” said McColeman.

MacDougall suggested, and the idea was endorsed by the rest of council, that senior city staff should have a meeting with the owner and hash out a plan to move forward, including the city’s options under the Unsightly Premises Bylaw.

Rob Philpott, Summerside’s CAO, indicated he would endeavour to make that meeting happen in the near future.