Change of Address Bylaw

There's been some.... impassioned... conversation about changes Council made to the Display of Address Bylaw tonight.

I've also received a rather nasty PM about it.

If people are truly this passionate about displaying (or not displaying) an address: then I hope they will come to a Council meeting and let us know what they think this bylaw should look like. I also hope they will follow my page to see what we are talking about at future Council meetings: it's always better for Council to hear your thoughts BEFORE we decide on something. Here's my post where I gave a preview of this bylaw amendment: https://bressey.ca/meetings/2020/jan27pre

However, I suspect that most don't actually feel too strongly about the Display of Address bylaw. I think this might be a case of social media anger amplifying itself due to not everyone having the full picture.

Some context:

It's important for addresses to be displayed for many reasons. The most important one: if 911 is called, emergency crews need to be able to find the right property.

The bylaw lays out how addresses need to be displayed. Its basic requirements: "The Address assigned by the City shall be affixed to a Building, and "the Address displayed shall be clearly visible from the Roadway and be on a contrasting background."

If a property does not have its address displayed, the Bylaw does NOT allow for a ticket to be immediately issued. Instead, the Bylaw requires written notice to be given notice. A ticket can only be issued if the problem isn't fixed 30 days after that notice is given.

That's very reasonable. And it hasn't changed.

What Council did change tonight: the penalty if a problem isn't fixed within 30 days.

The penalty for a first offence was $250. The fine for a first offence is still $250. And again: that fine can't be issued unless someone doesn't fix a problem until 30 days after receiving a notice.

What did change: the Bylaw used to ALSO require the property owner to appear before a judge if they were given a fine. Courts aren't cheap to run. Making someone appear in one costs a lot of taxpayer dollars. It gets in the way of other cases being heard. It is also overly punitive for what amounts to a minor infraction.

Tonight, Council changed the Bylaw so that (like a traffic ticket) someone can just pay their fine and be done with it. If they want to make their case in front of a judge, they have that right. But there is no longer a requirement to appear before a judge.

This is a very common sense change. It's also a change that is required by new provincial regulations.

The Bylaw amendment passed today also allows for a higher fine for a second offence. If someone was previously fined for not properly displaying their address and then, within the same calendar year, they receive a second notice and AGAIN fail to fix it within 30 days: then their second fine will be $500. This seems reasonable to me.

These changes will not create a new line of revenue for the City. Very few people will fail to fix their address in 30 days.

These changes will not require people to make substantial changes to their property. In fact, none of the actual Bylaw requirements were changed. Just the enforcement mechanism.

What this bylaw will do:

-save the time of people who committed what amounts to a minor offense

-save taxpayer dollars

-free up court time

If you want to see the Bylaw for yourself, here is what it looked like until about 2:45 this afternoon: https://www.cityofgp.com/…/…/files/uploads/bylaws/bc1294.pdf

And here are the amendments that got passed today: https://www.cityofgp.com/…/byl…/amendments/bc1294a_draft.pdf

As always, if you have any questions, concerns, or ideas: I'm all ears. Although my preferred way to hear them is over a cup of coffee, not Facebook...