The city is changing the way it handles people who refuse to put visible address numbers somewhere on their home or business. On Monday, city council approved some changes to the existing display of address bylaw.
Director of Protective and Social Services Chris Manuel says as part of the changes, people caught without a visible house number won’t have to go in front of a judge anymore.
“Previously what was known as a part two ticket required that you would attend court and if you didn’t attend court a warrant could be issued for your arrest. Now it’s like a speeding ticket where you don’t attend court, it essentially just goes to collections and registries will withhold services until you pay the fine.”
Manuel says this bylaw has been in place for years but has come up again now so that it can be brought up to date and aligned with provincial law.
“There’s the enforcement clause in the bylaw, the means in which bylaw officers would go about enforcing the bylaw if there was a violation like somebody refused to put up an address, it was just outdated legislation. It had to be amended to coincide with changes to the Provincial Offences Procedures Act. ”
The fine owed for not having a number on your house is $250. For people caught without a house number for the second time in a 12 month period, the fine is raised to $500.