Injecting Common Sense into Bylaw Enforcement
Injecting Common Sense into Bylaw Enforcement
It was a predictable decision at our public hearing: applicant wanted a duplex amongst single family homes yet every neighbour in the cul-de-sac was opposed. Motion to reject was carried and all went home. Yet it seemed the applicant wasn’t quite done. He made a list of every bylaw infraction he thought each neighbour was guilty of and brought the list to staff to enforce.
Management was uncomfortable with this ‘revenge’ list and sought my input as Mayor. I suggested neighbours be made aware of minor routine items (weeds, long grass, etc.) and asked to help us by complying. I don’t recall any significant items except for one – a young girl had a lamb as a pet. The bylaws didn’t permit farm animals in residential zones so we had a problem – yet I didn’t want to take this young girl’s lamb away to satisfy the neighbour’s grudge. So our solicitor said: ‘you know if you choose to review this bylaw, we won’t act on the complaint until your review is complete.’ And so my review commenced.
The applicant, now the complainant, checked on his list with staff from time to time and eventually got so frustrated that he phoned me to ask how long my review would take. I think I asked how long do lambs live but I do certainly recall his anger and the loss of his future votes. I don’t know how long the little girl and her lamb lived in Saanich but my review lasted every year that I was Mayor.
I believe this is setting the ‘tone at the top’ as opposed to meddling in management – some may disagree. Yet I ‘intervened’ when children sold lemonade in Mount Tolmie Park, teens set up their portable basketball hoop on the boulevard of a dead end street and when a husband and wife in the Gorge area brought lists of infractions into the office every month. If there were more than one independent complainant, then action would be taken. In some of the cases I’ve mentioned there weren’t any complainants but some passing notice by a municipal employee or long distance walker – my tone was sometimes you’ve got to ‘live and let live.’
I took the same approach when an individual citizen demanded we bring in a new bylaw – I’d suggest it be acknowledged and bundled with an annual review. New bylaws are essentially another restriction on everyone’s life and property – and I was always reluctant to add on to the many laws we already have. Good and valid ideas would be ‘good and valid’ six months later but the need for others would simply fade away. I think because Canadians generally obey laws doesn’t mean we should keep adding to the list.
I call this ‘injecting common sense into bylaw enforcement’ yet I see local councils still getting themselves tied up in knots because they feel they must enforce every instance concerning every person at every opportunity. ‘Zero tolerance’ their tone but it was never mine – it made more sense to apply common sense.