The by-laws of Toronto and Ottawa regulate hedges, shrubs, trees and other plants so that they do not: adversely affecting the safety of the public, affect the safety of vehicular or pedestrian traffic, constitute an obstruction of view, conceal or partially conceal or interfere with the use of any hydrant or water valves, and specific to the Toronto by-law, overhang or encroach upon any pavement, sidewalk or travelled portion of any street or highways.
Upon review of the MA along with other by-laws from other municipalities, City Council has the option to amend the City’s current by -law to provide additional language to regulate overgrowth of landscaping and general overgrowth on private property.
Should City Council wish to amend the dirty yard by-law, the following is presented for consideration based on the ability to effectively enforce and successfully prosecute:
(a) amend subsection 3.1.2 (Hedges and Landscaping) to read something similar to:
“Every owner of property shall ensure that hedges, shrubs , plantings, trees and all other landscaping on a property shall be maintained in a neat, tidy and healthy condition that is not unsightly or unreasonably overgrown, is acceptable to the Officer, and does not:
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obstruct or interfere with the safety and health of the public;
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affect the safety of or obstruct the view of vehicular or pedestrian traffic;
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detract from the neighbouring environment; or
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wholly or partially conceal or interfere with the use of any public infrastructure.
[emphasis added on proposed amendment]
Risk Analysis:
Although there are no risks with this report, if City Council proceeds with the revisions to the dirty yard by-law as noted above there may be an increase in call volumes and therefore delays to response time and increased back log.
Climate Change Risks
There are no climate change risks associated with receipt of this report.
Financial Matters:
There are no financial impacts associated with the receipt of this report. If Council chooses to amend the City’s current by -law to provide additional language to regulate overgrowth of landscaping and general overgrowth on private property, the potential increased number of calls would create an increased backlog in the department as noted. An increase in direct budgetary commitments would not be required, as the fees associated with contractor clean up is charged directly to the property taxes of the property which has been deemed non-compliant.
There is however, the potential for an increase in the number of repeat offender fees of $215, collected each time a repeat incident occurs with no annual reset. A