By Staff
August 14th,2023
BURLINGTON, ON
Produce that went to the Burlington Food Bank
A reader asks:
Why is the property at Ghent and Brant allowed to be left un-mowed?
This is a main artery and looks terrible.
Indeed it is – could it be because it was re-zoned in the mind of the ward Councillor as farm property?
When the Urban Farm first opened it was a busy place and produced a lot of food that went to the Food Bank. However, in the following years it wasn’t as popular. This year the site was left unkept with what were clearly weeds.
Bylaw enforcement Officers in Burlington do not visit a property unless a complaint has been made.
The site marked A is where the Urban Farm was located It is also the site that will be developed as a high rise tower. Site B is where an almost identical tower will rise. Site C will have stacked houses in the Molinaro development. The developer let the people running use the land at no cost to them.
Living next door and so supportive of what was happening that was all good, neighbors in particular need an answer to Jerry”s question “What happened?” Particularly as the price of food right now shows the need.
If nothing else it is an eye sore. BUT, there is some vegetable gardening in-progress behind the weeds, so, the glass is more than half full.
Does the City of Burlington have to enforce its own bylaws? Not necessarily.
Kent v. Laverdiere, 2011 ONSC 5411 (CanLIl) at pars 115, 145,146.
[115]… It is noted, however, that the fact that a Municipality has enacted a By-law does not confer upon it the duty to enforce it. In certain circumstances, Municipalities have been recognized to owe a private law duty of care to individuals, but that does not mean that a Municipality automatically owes a private law duty of care to all citizens in all circumstances, it is submitted.
[145] I wish to comment on the argument of the solicitor for the Plaintiffs that the Township ought to be held liable because it failed to enforce its own By-law. It is submitted that the Town Council never made a decision not to enforce the By-law against Laverdiere, yet they failed to do so and as a result, the dangerous situation was allowed to persist.
[146] The law is clear that as a general proposition, the “mere passing of a By-law by a municipal corporation does not cast any legal duty on the municipality to see to its enforcement”: City of Toronto v. Polai[18]. In that case, it was noted that authorities may make policy decisions or operational decisions….
Not having to enforce bylaws is clearly an out for COB. But it sets a tone of a disciminatory city staff and Council which is not what democratic rather than authoritarian Governance is all about.
Especially when the evidence is overwhelming in terms of the city taking significant trespass action against citizens and a media representative (2 years and permanent) when they did not have a Trespass By-law in place.
The City first approved Trespass Bylaw came into play July 11, 2023 amid great controversy as to the Clerk’s support of Council non-compliance with at least two Procedural Bylaws at a Council meeting chaired for the first time by Deputy Mayor Stolte.
There is no more important issue facing Burlington taxpayers at this time than lack of compliance with their own Procedural Bylaws and the deafening silence to very reasonable questions and correspondence the City Manager, Head of Legal, Clerk and Deputy Mayor Stolte have yet to respond to.
Lets band together and send the bylaw officers
I think it’s totally unacceptable and the city should be ashamed. They are more concerned about a naturalist garden being removed than a busy road looking like an abandoned lot. Clean it up,
Shouldn’t the story be about “why” it’s no longer being used to grow food after a successful year? What happened?
It should be Jerry.