City of Whitehorse takes owner of dilapidated property to court — after 16 years of complaints

Sixteen years after neighbours began complaining, Whitehorse bylaw has laid charges against the owner of a derelict property.

The site on Lodgepole Lane remains piled with garbage, oil drums, disused vehicles and a collapsed building, after numerous fines and a clean-up order.

Neighbours say black sludge and oil slick oozes from the yard in the summer, and it smells like fumes.

"Every day I come home and that's the first thing I'm greeted with," nearby resident Kimpton Gagnon said.

"This completely dilapidated property, I see oil spilling and spreading onto the laneway. Also all the noise, and the smells and the dust coming off the property as they drive their equipment around. It's just not a great environment to try and raise a family."

No one appears to live on the property, which is near Porter Creek.

But Gagnon said the piles of garbage occasionally "get moved around."

The property remains piled with garbage, oil drums, disused vehicles and a collapsed building, after numerous fines and a clean-up order. Neighbours say in the summer, oil leaks out of the waste. (Katie Todd/CBC)

Environment Yukon documents show complaints about the property stretch back to 2008.

In 2017, the City of Whitehorse told CBC the property's owner had been fined "a number of times."

Environment Yukon took soil samples in 2020 and surface water samples in 2022, which both showed contamination.

In 2020, the fire department issued an order to evacuate, which deemed no-one could reside on the property until all hazards were removed.

Then, in March 2022, the fire department issued a hazardous condition order, giving the owner three months to dismantle the building and clean up the property.

It appears the response was too slow.

"There has been some remediation work and site cleanup over the summer and through the fall of 2023 with overall progress being slower than anticipated," community services director Krista Mroz told city councillors last week.

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"Charges have been laid by bylaw services in relation to non-compliance with the timelines in the hazardous condition order."

In March 2022, the fire department issued a hazardous condition order, giving the owner three months to dismantle the collapsed building and clean up the property. It appears that hasn't happened. (Katie Todd/CBC)

The property has two registered owners.

Court documents show one of them, Len McGinnis, now faces four charges.

They're accused of allowing refuse to collect on a highway or property, or an adjacent public property.

They're also charged with parking or storing a motor vehicle that is not validly registered and licensed, and not parked or stored in accordance with the zoning bylaw.

The third charge is one of causing, permitting or allowing a property to be in bad repair or to constitute a danger.

The individual is also accused of failing to comply with an order issued by the manager of bylaw services.

The court documents show a not guilty plea was entered in late February.

Construction waste, oil drums, unused vehicles and children's toys are emerging from the melting snow on the Lodgepole Lane property. (Katie Todd/CBC)

Mroz said bylaw officers were in continual contact with the property owners, "one of which resides outside the territory."

Gagnon said he was happy the council is "trying to move forward," but he had doubts as to whether court action would finally get the property cleaned up.

"Continuing to apply fines is not going to help resolve the issues on the property," he said.

"I think it's time for the city to take action and under the Taxation Act, seize the property and remediate.... Bring it to a acceptable standard within the city of Whitehorse and potentially even develop it and bring it back onto the the market."

Gagnon met with the mayor of Whitehorse last week to share his ideas and also offer his assistance with any clean-up work.

The matter is set for trial in early June.