Editorial: Pitting neighbour against neighbour

Jeff Green | Dec 08, 2011

There are many reasons why a property standards bylaw is a bad idea for Central Frontenac Township, which is in the process of preparing one, or for any rural township, for that matter.

The fundamental reason is that these bylaws do the opposite of what they are intended to do.

Like all bylaws, a property standards bylaw is intended to make the township a better place to live in. The reasoning is that if the township is nicer to look at as people drive through, they are more likely to stay around, creating opportunities for different kinds of commerce, employment, etc. The people who have been proposing the bylaw in Central Frontenac see it as part of an economic development initiative that is intended to bring benefits to all the citizenry, rich and poor, long-time residents and newcomers alike.

The township staff see these bylaws in another light as well. They cover the township against different kinds of liability, and we do pay our municipal officials to worry about municipal liability so we don't have to worry about it.

The problem with a property standards bylaw is that they create two classes of citizens: good ones that keep their lawns clean, keep all their sundry junk hidden away, and paint their houses every three years; and a second class that is made up of the rest of us.

Secondly, and this is the worst of it, I think, it gives people a hammer to beat their neighbors over the head with.

There will be no clean police in Central Frontenac once this bylaw comes through; it will use complaints-based enforcement.

The bylaw officer will visit if a complaint is lodged, so what can and does happen in places where these bylaws are in place, is that neighbors who get into disputes for any reason just have to pull out a copy of the bylaw and find something on their neighbor's property that is not permitted, be it a weed, a shed, a dead car – whatever - and the township will investigate and levy a fine.

Thus, instead of working to build a more cohesive, tolerant community, the township enables its citizens to turn on each other.

One of the things I like about rural communities is the fact that we all have to get along, no matter what our income, social status, religious affiliation, or interests are. When we go to the Santa Claus parades, every one, from local businesses of all sizes to the daycare to the food bank to the fire department and on and on, is in the parade. Aside from the reporters taking pictures, there are hardly any people watching the parade because so many have jumped in and gotten involved.

Some of those people have properties that don't fit the standards.

With a property standards bylaw in mind, I drove some of the major roads this week, and it became very easy to see which properties the people who favour this bylaw would like to target. They are the properties that show the traveling public that this corner of Eastern Ontario is not prime cottage area like Muskoka, Haliburton or the Kawarthas.

Here is a little secret. Many of us who moved here over the years did so because the area is not that fancy; because we could buy a rural property for a reasonable price; and because we figured we could do what we wanted to do without worrying too much about what everyone else thinks.

And it works. We do get along pretty well, thank you very much, and when we have disputes between neighbours we work them out between ourselves.

We do have a higher share of poverty and a variety of related health and social problems than the provincial average, and as a community we deal with that. If the township decided to work with us over those issues instead of deferring entirely to more remote levels of government, that would be nice.

But pitting us against each other in order to attract some mythical investor who will bring more money into the region is not nice at all.

If the activities we engage in on our own properties have a direct environmental impact on our neighbors or the township as a whole, because of faulty septics or hazardous waste that can get into the groundwater, or if there is another health or safety concern, by all means the township should step in.

A number of neighbouring municipalities have property standards bylaws in place and for the most part they are rarely invoked, but that does not make them a good idea.

Ultimately, if it just comes down to the fact that some people don't like the look of their neighbor's property and think it is having an effect on the monetary value of their own property, I would say they should just live with it.

In the words of our illustrious MPP - "Back off government, get off our land".