The Town’s 45 page, draft Good Neighbour Bylaw is certainly a comprehensive document and likely will lie, for the most part, unused.
By definition bylaws are passed to control or regulate the actions of members of a jurisdiction/organization for the benefit of the majority
Provincial legislation, under which a town may create bylaws, unfortunately allows the Town to legally not enforce its bylaws. This imposes an unfair obligation on law-abiding tax-payers and enhances opportunities for scoff-laws to do what they do best; routinely victimize everyone around them with total disregard for the impact of their actions.
Mayor Hovanes is quoted: “Conflict with neighbours is often difficult. I often think that if people would try to think of what they would like to expect of their neighbours, then perhaps it would help to model their own behaviour.”
Hovanes then goes on to state that: “no amount of bylaw enforcement or court action will make you better neighbours. You either figure out a working relationship or eventually one or two ‘for sale’ signs go up.”
This struck me as a rather flippant comment and ignores the fact that bylaws are created to modify unwelcome behaviour of those who don’t give a damn about their neighbours.
Such people resort to verbal or physical abuse and are incapable of forming an unselfish philosophy of consideration for others based on what they would themselves like.
To rationalize lack of enforcement because ‘it will not make better neighbours’ is an incomprehensible rationale which has significant financial implications.
It forces residents to become an extension of the Town’s regulatory arm thus placing an obligation on tax-payers to enforce behaviour modification which the bylaw is intended to regulate. Such enforcement action could lead to confrontation, the alternatives being the aggrieved person must sell their home or suck-it-up.
The Town’s position of ‘enforcement upon complaint’ is simply a boondoggle designed to avoid the cost of enforcement; and by lack of consistent enforcement, the Town singles out isolated incidents while ignoring identical situations because there has been no complaint; thus there becomes a double standard which is evident if you drive around town.
Pat Hampson, Oliver
