City rescinds Balmoral Street property owner’s order to clean up encampment

A West Broadway landlord is off the hook for clearing a large riverbank encampment after the City of Winnipeg rescinded an order threatening to stick him with the cleanup bill.

Marvin Sharp, CEO of Astroid Management Ltd., which operates the Pen-Eve Apartments at 35 Balmoral St., said he received a call from the city Tuesday letting him know the order has been cancelled.

In a statement from the city, an official said the order was shelved due to an existing and active easement on the property.

“We have been communicating with the property owner throughout this process and they have been informed of this development,” a spokesperson said.

Sharp had advised the city of a possible easement on the 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 previously said it was looking into the easement, and whether it was still registered as an active encumbrance.

The Free Press first reported in July that Sharp had received a compliance order from the city after a bylaw officer observed “an accumulation of garbage” on the property, including tents and shopping carts.

The order initially required the property to be cleared by July 18, warning the city could begin remediation as early as the following day.

Sharp didn’t receive the letter until July 17, and began the appeal process, which was initially denied because he hadn’t responded by the compliance date — on a Saturday, when city offices are closed.

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

While Sharp was happy with the city’s decision to rescind the order, he said the problem of encampments on his property is still there.

The encampment, which stretches behind several addresses along Balmoral, is in violation of the city’s encampment ban policy.

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca