The City of Whitehorse is taking the owners of a messy property at 2 Lodgepole Lane to court for non-compliance with a clean-up order.

The issue was raised last Tuesday night by Coun. Ted Laking. He noted that it was “somewhat tangentially tied to our earlier discussion about abandoned properties in the community.”

(City council is crafting new rules for dealing with abandoned buildings and discussed the issue at length at its standing committee meeting last Tuesday.)

At issue is a ramshackle property in Porter Creek, with junked automobiles and construction scraps lying around the yard.

Neighbours have complained to the city for years about oil seeping into the ground and called for the property to be cleaned up.

“I continue to hear from members of the community about their frustration that there is no progress being made on the property and that it remains a hazard for the neighbourhood,” Laking said.

But that is about to change.

Bylaw Services director Krista Mroz said charges have been laid by her staff for non-compliance with the timelines set out in the hazardous condition order issued by the city fire department in April 2021.

“There had been some remediation work and site clean-up in 2023, but overall progress has been slower than anticipated,” Mroz said. “There is a pending court date for later this spring.”

Bylaw officers have been in continual contact with the property owners about the matter for many years, in keeping with the maintenance bylaw and hazardous condition order, she said.

City manager Jeff O’Farrell said not much more could be said in public at this time “as this is an ongoing enforcement action.”

There have been two charges against the principal property owner in the last two years, according to city staff.

The total number of charges laid over the years, with fines, was not available at press time.

“I am happy to see that they are moving forward with something, but I am not sure what the plan is,” neighbour Kimpton Gagnon told the Star last Thursday.

“In my opinion, the city needs to take action and bring the property back to compliance and seize it from this delinquent individual.”

He said last year’s clean-up efforts did not improve matters much, and caused a lot of noise and dust at the time.

“(The property) is just in a complete state of disarray,” Gagnon said.

“Last summer, they demolished a couple of structures and have made large piles of debris all over the property.

“… I pay enormous amounts of taxes to be part of this society that has rules, regulations and standards but, if they are not enforced, they are worthless.”

Laking and Coun. Dan Boyd raised the issue of the non-compliant property at council twice last year, in April and September.

There was an unsuccessful effort in 2017 to charge the owners with contaminating the soil, under the Environment Act.

While the environment department said test results showed the presence of petroleum hydrocarbons consistent with hydraulic fluid, there was insufficient evidence to determine the responsible party.

Department staff said they were working with the property owner, and that he was “co-operating 100-per-cent at this time.”

Oil, pesticide, and/or chemical spills or other emergencies involving contaminants can be reported to the Spill Line at (867) 667-7244. It accepts collect calls and is monitored 24/7.