Latest news with #bylaw
CTV News
4 days ago
- Politics
- CTV News
Toronto's rental bylaw takes effect next week
A new Toronto bylaw to protect tenants from what Mayor Olivia Chow is calling 'bogus' renovictions officially goes into effect next week. CTV's Scott Lightfoot reports.
CTV News
21-07-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Pierrefonds residents frustrated as pool fences considered not up to code
Some residents in Pierrefonds have been told that their pool fences are not up to code. (Christine Long/CTV News) Some in Quebec are being told their existing fences are not acceptable, weeks before the new provincial pool fence bylaw comes into effect on Sept. 30. Mazdak Ardalan has three young children, and his pool fence, a non-rigid Enfants Secure enclosure made of PVC synthetic mesh, was inspected recently. 'He said, 'So, that fence you have is considered material non-rigide so it's not authorized,'' said the Pierrefonds resident. His Montreal West Island neighbour, Tom Di Nunzio, has the same fence and never suspected there would be a problem because the fence is shown on the Quebec government's own pool fence bylaw rule book. 'That's the fence that we have,' said Di Nunzio. 'So as per the provincial bylaw, that's the fence. This is what's here. When we go to the City Hall, they had the same sheet, and they just have this one crossed off.' Pierrefonds residents Pierrefonds residents Mazdak Ardalan and Tom Di Nunzio discuss their fences with Enfants Secure president Mathieu Lalonde. (Christine Long/CTV News) Di Nunzio asked the borough why it doesn't accept the fence when the province does, and he received a letter. 'No independent study was conducted to make the decision to prohibit non-rigid materials as fencing for pool enclosures,' the letter reads. READ MORE: Pool fence installers slammed as deadline for Quebec safety changes approaches Enfant Secure president Matthieu Lalonde says his product is tested, safe and accepted in most areas of the province. 'I would say more than 98 per cent of them accept our product,' said Lalonde. Pierrefonds seems to be in that 2 per cent, and Lalonde said that some pool owners will have to spend more. 'With the new regulation, people have to put some fence around their pools, and on top of that, they refuse our fence, which is an affordable one,' he said. Both Ardalan and Di Nunzio paid around $2,000 for their current fences, and the estimates they received on the new rigid fences were much higher at around $8,000. Mazdak Ardalan Pierrefonds resident Mazdak Ardalan was told by an inspector that his pool fence was not up to code. (Christine Long/CTV News) They submitted their concerns to the Montreal ombudsman and were told that municipalities are free to go above and beyond other jurisdictions. The Pierrefonds-Roxoboro borough did not respond to a request for comment from CTV News. With the deadline for pool fences looming, Ardalan has been waiting nine weeks for a new permit, and the inspector advised him to sell his existing one, perhaps to a jurisdiction just a few streets away where there are no problems with his fence.
CTV News
13-07-2025
- CTV News
Police, bylaw secure 8 vacant Sault Ste. Marie buildings
he Sault Ste. Marie Police Service's Division 2 location is on Brock Street at the corner of Wellington Street East downtown. The new site is beginning initial operations on April 28, 2025 and opened to the public on May 27, 2025. (File photo/Supplied/Sault Ste. Marie Police Service) Police and bylaw officers inspected 22 vacant properties in Sault Ste. Marie's downtown core last week as part of an ongoing effort to address safety concerns and unlawful activity. Sault Ste. Marie Police Service's newly formed Division 2 Patrol Services Unit Sault Ste. Marie Police Service's Division 2 Patrol Services Unit is shown in this undated photo. From left to right: Const. Oladele Oworu, Const. Fred Brown, Sgt. Derek MacFarlane, Const. Jaimie Peace and Const. David Peck (File photo/Supplied/Sault Ste. Marie Police Service) On July 8, the officers from Sault Ste. Marie Police Service's Division 2 Unit, in partnership with City of Sault Ste. Marie By-law Enforcement, conducted inspections through the Integrated Municipal Enforcement Team. The team was established in 2020 as a partnership between police, fire services, bylaw enforcement, the housing commission, and other agencies to develop action plans to address community concerns, including identifying neglected or unsafe properties. One of its key roles is locating buildings in disrepair that pose risks to tenants and the public. July's operation targeted properties with prior by-law violations, focusing on securing structures to prevent unauthorized entry to reduce illegal activity linked to vacant properties, and support the city's efforts to maintain neighbourhood safety. Eight of the 22 properties required additional securing. 'During the inspections, each property was assessed for security issues such as unlocked doors, unsealed windows, or boards having been removed to allow for entry,' police said in a news release. 'At properties which were not properly secured, officers entered to ensure no one was there unlawfully.' Two individuals were charged under the Trespass to Property Act. 'The Sault Ste. Marie Police Service remains committed to strengthening community safety in the downtown core,' concluded the release.
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
LaSalle looks into policy limiting frivolous bylaw complaints, some residents feel 'harassed' by neighbours
LaSalle town council has asked its staff to come up with a policy to address frivolous and vexatious complaints from residents — saying some people are using the town's bylaw division to harass neighbours and express displeasure over annoyances that are not bylaw violations. Mayor Crystal Meloche introduced the motion at Tuesday night's council meeting. "We've seen an uptick in neighbourly disputes," Meloche told CBC. "And they find the best way, I guess, to anger their neighbours – or I don't know what it is – is to call the bylaw department, and they put in complaints." LaSalle's bylaw department received 325 complaints in 2024, according to a report provided to council in April. That's a 21 per cent increase over 2023, when there were 268 complaints. Town takes complaints seriously Staff estimate that the town's population has only grown around 10 per cent since 2021, said Director of Finance Dale Langlois. The overwhelming majority of the complaints, 191 in total, were related to the town's clean yard bylaw, representing a 59 per cent increase over 2023 numbers, according to the report. "The main offences included tall grass/weeds and exterior property debris, which resulted in the completion of 16 properties being remediated/cut by the town's employed third-party contractors," the report read. The town takes complaints seriously, Meloche said, so bylaw officers will visit properties, make sure residents are complying with bylaws, educate them on how to comply if not, and follow up to make sure they've addressed any problems. "But what we're seeing is neighbours who are calling for reasons that are not against municipal bylaws," she said. "We will go out there, and we will confirm that the neighbour's compliant, and nothing needs to be done. "And the neighbour will call again, and they will put in another complaint ... So what we're finding is, we're getting people in our town who feel that they're being harassed." The town only has one bylaw officer to serve the population of around 35,000, and that person is wasting a lot of time on "neighbourly disputes," she said. The fire department is also getting complaints about people having legal outdoor fires, she added. Complaints about backyard fires LaSalle Fire Chief Ed Thiessen confirmed to CBC that the department gets occasional calls about outdoor fires, though said id it doesn't happen frequently enough to cause a problem for the service. "As long as they're … the proper distance away from structures and that they're burning clean materials … they are allowed," he said. Meloche said other complaints she's heard about involve loud dogs and loud cars. Her goal with the motion, she said, is to find a way to continue treating all complaints seriously, while shutting down repeated complaints on matters that have already been investigated — and potentially even fining residents whose repeated, unfounded complaints cost the town money. The motion passed unanimously. Coun. Jeff Renaud was the only person to speak to it during Tuesday night's meeting. "One thing I learned in the last 11 years with being on council is I have very good neighbours," he said. "And there's probably twice as many people out there that don't have very good neighbours, and I see a lot of resources being wanted on frivolous complaints."
The Herald
09-07-2025
- Politics
- The Herald
Outa takes City of Johannesburg to court over 'unworkable' CCTV bylaw
Outa executive director Stefanie Fick said they want the bylaw overturned due to lack of public participation, lack of rationality and legality. 'Given the extent and impact of the bylaw, it appears limited public participation took place. Alternatively there was insufficient community participation,' she said. 'It would appear the COJ is usurping policing functions by commandeering private CCTV camera systems aimed at ensuring the safety and security of individuals, communities and property within the city, which ... is primarily the function of national and provincial government. For this reason the COJ is overstepping its executive and legislative authority.' The city's registration process is 'irrational, cumbersome and unimplementable', the organisation argued, adding it believes the bylaw will undermine community safety initiatives. 'Placing an enormous administrative burden on a CCTV owner would discourage residents from installing CCTV camera systems. The net result would be a community increasingly exposed to crime, where the police and Johannesburg metropolitan police department are not equipped to effectively deal with pervasive crime.' Outa raised further concerns about the registration process, saying it could compromise privacy and the city's handling of data. 'The COJ may regulate its own CCTV camera systems as it deems fit, but it exceeds its powers by directly interfering with private property rights. What a person does within the boundaries of his property is private and the COJ must not intrude on this privacy.' TimesLIVE
