City forces clean up

Merritt is taking delinquent property owners to court and winning.

In an effort to get tough on unsightly properties, the City of Merritt has been more aggressive about

forcing residents to clean up their yards.

“For a while we just responded on a complaint-by-complaint basis,” explains Ruth Tolerton, corporate services manager with the City of Merritt. “Now we’re much more proactive.”

She warns that they will be actively ticketing, and the fines can get costly. She says the property owners have a choice. They can pay a minimal fine and clean up their property in a timely manner, or they can go to court and face the maximum penalty of $2,000 and six months in jail.

Although this is fairly uncommon, one resident decided to take the hard road and now owes the city $2,000.

Last week the City of Merritt won its battle with Helmut Banka, who owns a property on the corner of Second Avenue and Voght Street. It started last September when the city issued a warning.

Unlike other infractions, the unsightly premises bylaw requires a long form ticket, meaning the matter has to be settled through the court system.

Eventually the judge found Banka guilty and ordered him to clean up his property and build a shed for storage. He was given three months to comply. When, at the end of that time, his messy property was still unchanged the matter returned to court.

Tolerton says on the most recent court date, Banka claimed that there was nothing wrong with his property. The judge disagreed and ordered him to pay the $2,000 fine or face losing his home.

Tolerton explains that by law the city can issue an order to sell if the fine isn’t paid. The property would then be sold and the city would get paid. Tolerton says with this method the home doesn’t have to be sold at fair market value.

Tolerton is confident it won’t go that far and that Banka will pay the fine in a timely fashion.

Tolerton says this case should come as a warning to people who have unsightly properties.

“Sooner or later they will be caught and we will

charge them,” she warns.

She says people often believe that what their yard looks like is their business, but that is not the case. She says when people live within the city limits they have to abide by the bylaws.

If they don’t, the city is within its rights to crack

down on offenders.