Image: City of Chilliwack / Visual blight at a Tyson Road home in Chilliwack. Chilliwack City Council will review a resolution at its meeting this coming week that would declare the property a public nuisance and a safety risk to first responders and the neighbourhood. The resolution, if passed, would order the property owner to clean up the property in 30 days or face financial penalties from the City of Chilliwack.

By Mike Vanden Bosch

Bylaw enforcement at Chilliwack home

City of Chilliwack asks council to pass resolution ordering Tyson Road owner to fix property or face consequences

Nov 16, 2024 | 4:10 PM

CHILLIWACK — The City of Chilliwack says it has now received over 30 bylaw complaints since March 2024 about the derelict conditions of a Tyson Road home near the Sardis Sports Complex in Chilliwack, as the city grapples with a public eyesore that is now deemed hazardous and unsafe by fire officials.

As Fraser Valley Today first reported in October 2024, visual blight at a home in the 5600 block of Tyson Road has prompted city bylaw personnel, Chilliwack Fire Department and Chilliwack RCMP members to get involved in property inspections. City staff said in early October they were taking “all available steps to bring the property into compliance.”

In a city staff report published Friday (Nov. 15) on its website, and authored by legislative services staff member Carolyn Wilkinson, municipal staff acknowledge that the property owner at 5660 Tyson Road has not complied with numerous property deficiencies.

Image: City of Chilliwack / A view of the accumulated debris in the back yard of the Tyson Road home.

The city’s bylaw enforcement department has been working to obtain compliance from the property owner around solid waste collection and disposal bylaw guidelines, as well as community standards bylaw guidelines.

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Image: City of Chilliwack / Debris and other items outside a Tyson Road home that has generated over 30 bylaw complaints since March 2024.

The City says bylaw inspections have found that excess unlicensed vehicles, coupled with an accumulation of garbage and debris, are now attracting and providing a haven for vermin, rats and other pests, and causing considerable concern for the health and safety of those living in the neighbourhood. Despite attempts made by municipal staff to have the owner address these deficiencies, the owner has failed to comply.

Image: City of Chilliwack

City staff say the assistant fire chief of the Chilliwack Fire Department has determined that the property is a fire and life safety hazard posing significant risk to fire department personnel, other first responders, the occupant, and the surrounding neighbours. That determination has led city officials to consider declaring the property a nuisance and its conditions as being offensive to the community.

Image: City of Chilliwack / Pallets line the backyard of the Tyson Road home that has generated over 30 bylaw complaints since March 2024.

City staff are recommending that Chilliwack City Council adopt a resolution at its meeting this Tuesday, Nov. 19 that the property constitutes a nuisance and is providing a haven for vermin, rats and other pests; that the conditions at the property represent a considerable concern to the health and safety of neighbours; that the property poses a significant risk to firefighters, first responders, the occupant and the surrounding neighbours; that the unlicensed vehicles, discarded material and other debris be completely removed within 30 days of service of a resolution being passed; that the property at 5660 Tyson Road be left in a neat and tidy condition; and if the owner doesn’t comply with the terms of the resolution, city staff, through its workers or other contracted personnel, may enter onto the property and perform the work outlined in the resolution. The property owner would owe a debt to the City of Chilliwack for all cleanup services rendered. If that debt is not paid by Dec. 31, 2025, the City may recover it by transferring the debt to the property tax account for the property in accordance with section 258 of the Community Charter.