Landlord asks city to work with him over homeless camp after appeal option turfed

A West Broadway landlord says the City of Winnipeg has rejected his attempt to appeal an order that requires him to clear a homeless encampment from his riverfront property.

Marvin Sharp, CEO of Astroid Management Ltd., which operates the Pen-Eve Apartments at 35 Balmoral St., said Monday the decision is absurd since his firm was given almost no time to respond to the order.

The city denied his request for an appeal hearing because he failed to respond before the July 18 compliance deadline.

Sharp contends that was impossible because the compliance order, dated July 10, did not arrive at his office until July 17, leaving him just one day to file an appeal. The city clerk’s office is closed on weekends.

“The city needs to work with us to help solve the housing crisis,” Sharp said Monday after receiving the appeal denial letter. “This isn’t a good way to help the homeless.”

He said he wants to work with the city to address the issue “logically.”

“I’m going to go in with the attitude that this is going to be resolved, we just need to give them some opportunity to take some oxygen,” Sharp said. “Just breathe, and listen to the logic here.”

In a statement Monday, the city said compliance orders are sent by registered mail to the address on file for the purpose of city taxes. Orders are deemed to have been served three days after the date of issue.

However, the city said it understands “there may have been a delay in the delivery of the compliance order.”

“We are looking into that further,” a spokesperson said. “We understand representatives of the property owner and the officer identified in the order have been in communication and we will continue to share information through that channel.”

The Free Press reported on the compliance order last week. It requires Sharp to remove the encampment, along with the associated garbage and debris, or have the cost of the cleanup added to his property tax bill.

Sharp has argued the city is forcing private property owners to deal with a problem they did not create.

The compliance order, viewed by the Free Press, is dated July 10 and states a bylaw officer observed “an accumulation of garbage” on the property, including abandoned goods, tents and unattended shopping carts.

The order requires the property to be cleaned by July 18 and warns the city could begin remediation as early as July 19, with the cost being added to the property tax bill. Sharp said he didn’t receive the letter until July 17.

As of Monday, the city had not started cleanup work.

Sharp said he’s looking into an easement attached to his property, a five-metre wide section that stretches from nearby Mostyn Park onto his property that appears to be the bike path that winds through the area.

In the easement, the city agrees that the pathway “will be well and properly constructed, adequately and properly maintained, and at all times kept in good condition and repair.”

The city said it’s looking into the easement on Monday, “including whether it is registered as an active encumbrance.”

“We will communicate with the property owner/manager as information is available on that matter,” the spokesperson said.

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca