'Downtown Mess' Surfaces Again at Owen Sound Council, This Time With Questions on Landlord Responsibility
Councillors raised provincial law, recent commercial recycling changes, and an earlier staff report request, but the May 11 discussion produced no decision.
Recycling left curbside on non-collection days in downtown Owen Sound came back before council at the May 11 meeting, with councillors and staff offering competing framings of the problem and no clear solution.
Councillor Melanie Middlebro raised the matter under additional business, describing the recycling and garbage left at the curb as “a mess” and “a burden to our staff here at the city.” Middlebro, a downtown business owner, also highlighted the financial impact on taxpayers and asked staff what options were available.
City Manager Tim Simmonds said staff agree that trash and recycling in the River District “needs to be addressed.” He offered to hold meeting with staff and to come back to either council or the operations committee with “some additional input” and to seek guidance.
Councillor Marion Koepke asked whether notices could be sent to property owners and business owners in the River District.
Simmonds said the city has sent “ a number of correspondence letters” to businesses, building owners, and landlords. Additionally, he said the supervisor of environmental services and the River District downtown coordinator have produced a postcard that Canada Post will deliver to every tenant in every building.
“It’s an issue that needs to be discussed more fully with the building owners and the landlords who, quite honestly, we think are just not policing their own tenants when it comes to trash and recycling,” Simmonds told council.
Councillor Brock Hamley, participating virtually, said he had moved a motion last fall requesting a staff report on options to increase service levels for downtown cleaning, and asked about its status.
Simmonds said the matter had been addressed in a River District service level report that went to the Service Review Committee that he believed “outlined waste and trask pickup, in addition to overall cleanliness.”
Deputy Mayor Scott Greig pointed out that the City is six weeks into the transition away from providing recycling collection for industrial, commercial, and institutional properties, including those in the River District, under Ontario's Extended Producer Responsibility model. He said "staff have been trying to pivot" in response to issues as they arise, and offered to add the matter to an upcoming operations committee agenda.
Councillor Jon Farmer pointed out that Section 45.1, in a building containing more than one rental unit, one or more suitable containers or compactors shall be provided for garbage.”
“Our conversations on these issues have often focused on policing the tenants, but my understanding of the information on Ontario.ca is that the landlords are responsible, if they’ve got more than one unit, for providing a place for that garbage to be,” Farmer stated.
Farmer suggested the conversation be reframed.
“Every time we talk about this, it’s how do we get the tenants to stop doing that? And I think the conversation could be, how do we have the multi-residential landlords start to provide the service that it looks like they’re responsible for? I don’t know how we do that.”
Section 45.1 falls under provincial maintenance standards that apply where municipalities have not enacted their own equivalent property standards bylaw covering the same matters.
Councillor Travis Dodd asked Middlebro to clarify whether the concern was about recycling or garbage. Middlebro said waste collection appears to be functioning, and that the visible problem is recycling left out on non-collection days.
“What I’ve noticed when I’m driving to my office is it’s the recycling that’s not being picked up because it’s now biweekly rather than being picked up three times a week,” Dodd said.
The discussion took place under additional business and produced no motion, no vote, and no direction to staff beyond Greig’s commitment to add the matter to operations committee.
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