A Nanaimo townhome has been named a nuisance by city council, making it the second in four months to get the title at the same Bowen Road complex.
City politicians hit unit six of 1637 Bowen Rd. with a nuisance designation, despite the homeowner saying the application for the nuisance property designation is wrong and it’s unit nine, designated a nuisance this past April, that’s been the source of disturbances for years.
Kent Whitford, owner and resident of unit six, told council he’s disabled, lives alone and doesn’t have parties.
He’s as concerned as the other residences by unit nine’s visitors who he said are illegal drug users who survive by theft and frighten him and his neighbours. He’s reported serious disturbances at the unit and many of his neighbours have also called the police repeatedly, said Whitford, who said it’s the responsible thing to do.
To designate his property would be unfair, he said.
According to the City of Nanaimo, there have been 15 calls for service to Whitford’s address between January last year and June 1 of 2017, including eight that are considered a nuisance. Calls have included complaints about assault, noise and uttering threats.
Rod Davidson, city manager of bylaw, regulation and security, said it seems most of the complaints originate from unit six and not from elsewhere.
Council voted 6-2 to put a nuisance title on the property, which councillors Sheryl Armstrong and Gord Fuller opposed.
Fuller compared the number of calls to another property, 643 Howard Avenue, also deemed a nuisance last week, which had seen 28 calls in six months with 12 considered a nuisance. He said he’s not prepared to support the recommendation or any other until there’s consistency for declaring a nuisance property.
Coun. Ian Thorpe said in the past, council has been criticized at times for being too slow to react to nuisance properties and has also been told there’s no magic number that’s a threshold for declaring a nuisance property. It depends on the nature of the call.
“On the assurance that any penalties will only be applied moving forward, I have no problem in supporting the staff recommendation for the good of the neighbours of this unit and hopefully there will be no further complaints and therefore no penalty will be needed,” he said.
The homeowner will be charged only for nuisance-related calls for service.