Thorold mayor won't support rental-unit bylaw as proposed

Posted By By TIFFANY MAYER

Posted 5 days ago

It was supposed to be a bylaw to crack down on absentee landlords and student housing issues.

But, from Mayor Henry D'Angela's perspective, Thorold's draft rental-unit licensing bylaw has morphed into something else entirely.

That's why D'Angela won't support the proposed rules that many Thorold landlords say are akin to a dictatorship.

"I believe stronger enforcement of (existing) bylaws can achieve the results our citizens are looking for," D'Angela said. "A licensing system will become a bureaucratic nightmare with administration and enforcement."

D'Angela may not be the only councillor who feels that way. Coun. Shawn Wilson echoed D'Angela at an impromptu general committee meeting Tuesday, held to discuss the proposed bylaw and resident reaction to it at a heated public meeting in October.

"We are so far beyond student housing at this point," Wilson said. "It may fix up some houses along the way, but it won't curb rowdyism or parking issues. It's just going to make residents livid."

The bylaw, the creation of which D'Angela and members of the city's Town and Gown committee lobbied for last year to alleviate problems with unkempt student housing, proposes a $300 fee to license all of the roughly 2,200 rental units in Thorold. That would enable the creation of a database of rental units and make it easier for fire and bylaw officials to inspect properties, ensuring they are up to snuff with provincial and city rules.

It would also mandate unit features, such as room sizes and ceiling heights.

Chief building official Jeff Menard noted many of the rules outlined in the draft bylaw are taken from existing provincial building and fire codes.

But no residents spoke in favour of the proposed rules in October, rather they objected to the cost, the required criminal record search of landlords, the ability of the city to enforce the bylaw and the feeling that the code went above provincially legislated standards.

"There was, of course, the overriding concern about whether there should be a bylaw," Sara Premi, city solicitor, told council Tuesday.

Councillors also expressed concern about the likelihood of getting landlords to even register their properties if the bylaw becomes reality.

"We don't know who has houses out there being rented. We don't know who the renter is. We don't have that contact with people," Coun. Mike Charron said.

Coun. Jonathan LePera worried that if the bylaw was implemented as is, council would eventually be pressured to flip-flop on its decision and reconsider the rules. It's currently happening with the city's clean-yards bylaw, which has angered some residents who feel it's unfair.

"I don't want to revisit this bylaw," LePera said. "I want to make it so it stands."

Citing what other municipalities are doing, Premi said the City of London appears to be backing away from a proposed rental-unit bylaw. Instead, it's considering a rental property registry and enhancing existing property standards bylaws to deal with rental housing issues.

Keen to find an alternative, D'Angela rhymed off existing city bylaws that could be used to curb the problems with rental properties. Among them, the property standards bylaw, zoning rules and the clean-yards criteria.

After more than an hour of discussion, council directed staff to look into potential alternatives to the proposed bylaw and their ease of implementation, including what, if any, additional bylaw officials would need to be hired for effective enforcement.

Council hopes to have the information in time for the next public meeting regarding the bylaw on Jan. 28. Barring that, D'Angela suggested turning the forum into a public education event. That will give landlords and renters the chance to ask fire and building officials what their responsibilities are to ensure safe living conditions.

Council will decide the meeting's format early next month.

"One thing that came out of the public meeting (in October) is we need to work on that (public education)," D'Angela said.