REGINA – The City of Regina released its 2015 bylaw enforcement numbers on Friday, which included a high number of front-yard parking investigations.
A year ago, the city enhanced a bylaw to ensure vehicles can only be kept on a driveway, in a car port or on a parking pad.
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Under zoning bylaws, which encompass land use and front-yard parking, there were 391 front-yard parking investigations in 2015. There were also 53 investigations for suspected illegal suite and rooming house complaints.
Instead of jumping right to a ticket through, the city is more focused on educating people about bylaws.
“What we try to do is work with landowners to get into compliance instead of going to court,” Diana Hawryluk, city planning & development executive director, said.
“We try to work through the issues with the owners of the properties.”
Other highlights of property bylaw investigations and enforcements include 336 fire investigations, 763 fire code inspections and 647 Orders to Comply for building without a permit, deviation from approved plans and occupying without a permit.
The city also conducted 2,606 property maintenance investigations for concerns like messy yards and derelict buildings.
Director of Fire and Protective Services Ernie Polsom said it’s easy to want an immediate fix for these properties, but they’re usually a symptom of a bigger issue.
“Social, health, aging, there’s a range of issues that are bubbling underneath. So we have to be sensitive to that in our enforcement process,” he explained.
“The last thing we want to do is solve one person’s problem, and create a really critical problem for somebody else unknowingly.”
However, Polsom added that these cosmetic issues need to be addressed because they can attract more problems.
Bylaws are enforced by the city to ensure residents’ properties meet fire and building code requirements and maintenance and community standards.
The city will often look at property concerns related to resident behaviour, property maintenance, increased on-street parking, front yards and fire and safety concern.
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