Nanaimo council approves motion to declare Metral Drive property a nuisance

Nanaimo council approves motion to declare Metral Drive property a nuisance
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Police are searching a house in the 5000 block of Metral Drive.

Photo/Nov 2, 2018

Nanaimo RCMP’s drug unit and the Island Emergency Response Team descended on a property at 5350 Metral Drive in early November,  it was far from the first time officers had been there.

On that visit, officers seized drugs and dozens of bicycles suspected to have been stolen, and arrested three people.

On Monday night, Nanaimo Council was told the RCMP alone had responded to 58 calls for service to the address since 2009.

The city’s Manager for Community Safety told council that bylaw officers had also been called to the address a number of times for complaints ranging from fighting and yelling to car, bike and foot traffic at all hours.

On two separate occasions, inspectors also found trailers illegally set-up on the property and being lived in.

On Monday night, Nanaimo council unanimously approved a motion to declare 5350 Metral Drive a “Nuisance” in accordance  with “Nuisance Abatement and Cost Recovery Bylaw.”

It targets properties that “substantially and unreasonably interfere with other persons’ use and enjoyment of property, and require repeated calls for police services to abate.”

The move allows City of Nanaimo staff to record and charge for municipal services, including police, needed to put an stop to the nuisance activity.

According to the bylaw, The City may bill and recover the costs of abating a nuisance from one or more of the following:

(1) a person causing the nuisance;
(2) the occupier of land from which the nuisance emanates; and
(3) the owner of land from which the nuisance emanates.

Ben O'HaraBen O'Hara

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