City pulls plug on yard sale
Neighbours have looked out on goods in front of rental home since July 1
Residents of the McKernan neighbourhood are relieved a yard sale that started on July 1 ended in time for the Thanksgiving long weekend.
Hundreds of household items stored on the lawn of a small rental house at 7805 114th St. had been cleared away by Saturday afternoon. A large orange tarp with the words “Yard Sale,” visible from busy 114th Street, had also been removed.
“At least I can see the street and I don’t have to look out at a dump every day. It’s been stressful,” said neighbour Louis Lynn, who has lived on 78th Avenue for 43 years.
On Friday, the City of Edmonton secured a Court of Queen’s Bench injunction that ordered the yard sale shut down and the property cleaned. The court no longer considered the situation a yard sale at all, said Ryan Pleckaitis, the city’s director of complaints and investigations.
“The court agreed with us that something that goes on for three to four months is a business; they interpreted it as a business,” Pleck- aitis said. “Also, due to the volume of materials, it was creating an unsightly property.”
The yard sale became a sore spot for neighbours this summer after it became apparent it wouldn’t end after a few days. Neighbours contacted their city councillors and other city officials.
“Maybe (my councillor’s) hands were tied, I don’t know,” Lynn said Saturday. “I can’t believe we live in a city with laws but people can do these things.”
The city issued an order to property owner Matthew Peter in August. It stated that a second-hand store was not permitted according to zoning bylaws for his property. It ordered him to remove all related materials from the site.
Peter appealed the order in early September on the basis that “there is no secondhand store on this property. It is simply a yard sale. A yard sale does not even need a permit in the City of Edmonton. There (are) also currently no restrictions in any legislation with regard to the length of time a yard sale can operate.”
Peter was not home on Saturday. A “For Rent” sign hung in one window, along with a “Roommate Wanted” sign. The backyard of the property is lined with storage sheds. Several tables full of goods could be seen in the fenced yard.
Neighbours have said the property owner runs a junk removal business and brought those items to his property to store and sell.
Neighbour Ed Toi, a 30-year resident of McKernan, said it was “disheartening” to see a perpetual yard sale at the end of his street. He wondered if Peter simply packed things up for winter.
“The interesting thing will be if he does this again next spring.”
Pleckaitis said he would have preferred if the property had been cleaned up months ago. He said the owner’s willingness to exhaust his options in court delayed any lawful action by the city.
Should a yard sale be held on the property in the spring, it will have to abide by city regulations and not last longer than three consecutive days. Anything longer, and it will conflict with Friday’s standing injunction from the court.