Saint John councillor wants better cost sharing for vacant and dangerous buildings

A Saint John councillor says it’s become to easy to own vacant and dangerous buildings in the city.

“There needs to be an incentive for you to do something with that, to sell it or to do something with that,” said Ward 3 councillor Donna Reardon.

“It’s easy and cheap to walk away from them and not heat them and do nothing with them. The citizens of Saint John do everything else that is required.”

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Currently there are 181 properties on a list of vacant and dangerous buildings that require major upkeep or demolition. Saint John has been battling its way through that list for the last several years, but the costs associated with monitoring these buildings, and the paperwork associated with demolishing them are large.

When a building is due to be demolished, the province reimburses the city for demolition costs and then charges the owner on their tax bill. If no owner can be found, the costs are put as a lien on the property.

But before a building ever sees the wrecking ball inspections need to be conducted, notices to comply need to be issued, and staff reports need to be written. Only then do councillors get the chance to vote on whether a building should be demolished.

“All of the work, all of the staff time, all the police surveillance, the fire surveillance is not charged back to the tax bill. So it means all the rest of the citizens have been providing the care for the building,” Reardon said.

“We’re putting a lot of staff time and a lot of staff resources into this. This is all for demolition. We’re putting money into it, we’re putting everything into it. We could be using staff resources for growth, which would make us money, it would make the province money. But instead, we’re putting all those resources into this.”

2:04 More buildings demolished in north-end Saint John

But deputy mayor Shirley MacAlary thinks the current system is operating just fine.

“I realize there’s a lot of paperwork and a lot of stuff to do, but that’s part of our job. That’s part of our role,” she said.

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MacAlary worries that asking for these sorts of costs to be covered would open the door for interference from the province in city business.

But Reardon says something needs to be done to incentivize absentee owners to take action on their aging properties, or sell them if they aren’t able or willing. She said requiring insurance for vacant buildings or adding fees for vacant and dangerous buildings to tax bills would push owners to take action.