Glenwood taking action against abandoned and derelict properties

By Jennifer Carbert

GLENWOOD – The community of Glenwood is doing what they can to clean up abandoned and derelict properties in their neighbourhood.

“[That is] not something you want standing in your community,” said Glenwood’s civic affairs director, Jamie Post.

Community project

One of the biggest projects Post has worked on during the two years he has been in his position, is a house on 98 Avenue and 162 Street. The property was left vacant for almost a year before the community took action. The owner wanted to build a duplex on the lot, which required rezoning, but was not looking after the property in the interm.

An abandoned house in Glenwood that was reported to city council in July 2009. Photo supplied by Jamie Post.

“There was a really nice, well maintained yard next to this nest,” Post said.

Post said houses that are left empty invite crime, lower property value, and attract transient people into the community.

“It doesn’t reflect well on the community,” he said.

The main reason there is derelict housing in the area is because it is a more mature neighbourhood Post said. He added that many houses have a lifespan of about 80 years. Certain houses in the neighbourhood have been passed down in a family, and when they are sold, sometimes they end up in the wrong hands.

For those people who do leave property untended, Post said he would like to see them hurt in the pocketbook. Right now a person who owns a derelict property pays less taxes than the average citizen. Post would like to see the taxes higher on these properties.

“If you are going to leave a derelict property in the area, it should be painful,” he said.

What to look for

There is a specific list of characteristics that must be met before a house can be be reported to the police.

• It is empty
• There is no security system
• The grass is overgrown
• The windows are boarded up

The property was cleaned up and rezoned as a duplex a couple of months later. Photograph by Jennifer Carbert

“They all tend to look the same after a while,” Post said.

Sometimes there are people living in rundown houses, in which case Post said the health inspector is called to give recommendations.

Getting rid of houses that reflect poorly on a community is a slow process Post said. It takes a lot of convincing at city council and a lot of paper work to get rid of a house.

In the past two years he has worked on a number of properties. The last four projects he worked on have been rezoned for duplexes.

There are three properties they’re keeping an eye on this year. Two of them are gone already, and the last house Post expects to see gone within the next five years.

“It’s a matter of community pride.”