A house fire is devastating for the folks who live there.
But residents in one Ottawa neighbourhood are finding out it's no fun for them either, 18 months later, still staring at the burned out hull of a building.
The city has all sorts of powers but under provincial rules, it doesn't have the power to compel someone to tear down a burned out house.
And so residents on Parkway Drive continue to stare at a view they don't like.
It was a fire that brought the neighbourhood together; flames licking into the sky on October 31, 2016.
“I happened to look out the window, there's a fire.” recalls Colleen Murray, who lives down the street, “I thought it was a pumpkin because it was Halloween night, flames shooting up into the sky.”
The flames are long gone but the house on Parkway Drive is still here and the only thing that's moved in?
“Rats,” says Murray, “There was a big rat, saw it the other day. I walked up the back part and there was one that scurried into the back yard.”
Colleen Murray and Charlotte Grignon live down the street from the property. They've complained about it but say nothing's happened.
“The people on the street that want to sell, it devalues the property,” says Grignon, “and coming down the street, I find it an eyesore to look at.”
The city's bylaw department says it's visited the site and “the property was found to be in compliance with the regulations administered,” Roger Chapman, the Director of Bylaw and Regulatory Services Department said in an email, “and enforced by BLRS. BLRS is however re-inspecting the property.”
The property has also been recently sold and a demolition permit issued. The councillor for the area says when it comes to forcing a demolition, the city's powers are limited.
“That's the problem,” says Rick Chiarelli, “Provincial law doesn't let us compel someone to tear down a building.”
Chiarelli says the new owner has until the end of December to demolish the house before that permit is revoked. He's confident it will happen.
The neighbours will believe it when they see it or rather, don’t see it anymore.
“Let's hope with the demolition permit it will be done before the snow flies,” adds Charlotte Grignon.
