Duane Hicks
The Town of Fort Frances now has a nuisance bylaw which will aid bylaw enforcement and police to better crack down on vandalism and loitering.
Council passed the bylaw at its regular meeting last night.
“We never, ever used to have a nuisance bylaw so this is brand new,” local bylaw enforcement officer Patrick Briere told the Times yesterday.
“It’s a really good enforcement tool for us, but mainly for the OPP on evenings and weekends when a lot of the vandalism stuff is happening,” he added.
The bylaw, the purpose of which is “to abate and prohibit nuisances within the Town of Fort Frances,” is based on a similar one which was implemented in the Town of Whitby.
The bylaw states no person shall cause, create, or permit a nuisance in any public place in town, nor shall any person, without reasonable excuse, urinate, vomit, or defecate in a public place (reasonable excuse can include a person having an illness).
It also states no person shall knock over, attempt to knock over, deface, attempt to deface, remove, or attempt to remove, or otherwise damage a fixture (a fixture also is defined to include trees, hydro and telephone poles, street signs, mailboxes, cemetery markers, etc.)
The bylaw also clearly outlines what littering, loitering, soliciting, and being a nuisance constitute.
“It’s strict, but at the same time it’s a good enforcement tool,” said Briere.
“I am hoping this will help the OPP curb some of the nuisance stuff that has been happening around town,” he added.
Briere said nuisance calls have ranged from graffiti and Canada Post relay boxes being kicked over to stolen signs and soap suds in the Lions Park fountain.
Anyone who contravenes or fails to comply with the bylaw is guilty of an offence, and liable to a maximum penalty of $10,000 and a minimum penalty of no less than $200.
Briere said now that council has passed the bylaw, he will be going through the courts in Thunder Bay and Toronto to have them approve short-form wording for the nuisance bylaw.
Once approved, this will allow bylaw enforcement and OPP officers to issue Part I tickets on the spot and directly fine perpetrators.
By contrast, right now they have to issue a Part III summons for the violators to go to court and appear before a judge.
While people could be charged for vandalism or urinating in a public place prior to this new bylaw, Briere said those offences fell under the Criminal Code, which require a lot more to prove than a bylaw offence.
The process to develop the new bylaw has taken some time.
It was spurred on by BIA chair Doug Anderson, who back in March submitted a petition signed by downtown businesses to council back in March.
This petition expressed concern about petty vandalism taking place in the downtown core, and asked for the town to consider implementing a nuisance bylaw similar to the one in Whitby.
This was referred to the Planning and Development executive committee, which also referred the item to the local Police Services Board for its input.
The PSB then recommended to council that such a bylaw be prepared as an additional enforcement tool for the OPP here.
Briere then worked with the Planning and Development executive committee to devise a draft bylaw, which was prepared as a formal bylaw to approval at last night’s council meeting.
