Still time for talk on vacant building tax, says Summerside councillor

Citizens of Summerside will have to wait a bit longer for a decision from council on what to do about vacant and derelict buildings in the city.

At Monday night's council meeting, a motion was put on the floor to ask staff to review the Dangerous, Hazardous and Unsightly Premises Bylaw and recommend measures to be applied to the properties, including imposing a different tax rate when the vacant buildings are not looked after.

"It's a problem that's been ongoing for a long time in thecity and it's time to act." said Coun.Brent Gallant, who brought the motion forward.

The original motion was amended after COA Bob Ashley, and other councillors suggested another meetingwith property owners, who complained in recent media reports.

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Gallant said he is open to talking to the owners again, but that things need to move on at some point.

"The time for talk is certainly still available but the window for waiting is closing very quickly." he said.

The amendment was passed and included directions forstaff to come up with several solution options. Included in staff's research will be the original ask of a tax increase from Gallant.

"I think the first thing that happens with some of these derelict buildings is they ask for a tax assessment, so not only now are they sitting on a property but they're probably paying a lot less taxes than the building would have paid for if had in operation. So it makes it easy to sit and wait and hope something goes on," said Gallant

"Some of the bylaws that I did research on and the staff will do a much more thorough job than I but I looked at some things and they looked at taxing on a square footage and putting a surtax on that square footage."

Staff will now have some time to research and will bring forward suggestions to a future council meeting, which Gallant looks forward to.

"What we want to do is encourage these people... do is either clean them up, take them down, open them up for new development or redevelop them."

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