Edmonton to ask province for help protecting property owners adjacent to infill sites

The City of Edmonton received 19 complaints of excavation-related damage to houses next door to infill builds last year a number that one councillorrepresentinginfill-heavy neighourhoodsbelieves is low.

"My experience would suggest that that underestimates the problem and people may have stopped phoning through to 311 because they feel there's nothing we can do," said Ward 8 Coun. Ben Hednerson on Friday, following a meeting of council's urban planning committee, where a report on residential construction was presented.

At Henderson's suggestion, the city will be contacting the province, which has jurisdiction over building codes governing infill projects, to see if the two levels of government can work together to come up with a system to better protect the people who own properties adjacent to the sites.

• Edmonton homeowner calls for tighter infill housing rules after damage along property line

Little recourse for neighbours

Property owners who incur damage from infill builds next door currently have very little recourse, said Bev Zubot, the planning advisor for the Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues.

While shesaid good builderswarn neighbours in advance of the risk andtake responsibility for those types of incidents, property owners' only real option is to sue the builder and the homeowner.

Zubot said that comes with a whole other sent of challenges.

Without doing a building inspection in advance which can cost between $2,000-$4,000she said it's difficult to even find a lawyer to take on a case because it's hard to prove the damage wasn't there before.

Zubotsaid some of the more severe damage that she's aware of has come in the form of foundational cracks.

"The problems arise due to vibrations during the demolition," shesaid, adding that dirt piles can also topple, fences can falland landscaping can be wiped out.

Rules need shoring up

Zubot wants the city to tighten the rules around permitting infill builds. She said the review of excavations should be intensified to include engineering reports and soil testing.

City staff have previously saidtheir process aligns with the provinces' regulations.

Hendersonsaid the city doesn't have the power to fix the situation alone; it needs the province's help.

"We really needmechanisms to make sure the onus is not on the neighbour next door to try to sort it out," Henderson said."And that we make it clear that they're taken care of and I think our systems are not very good at doing that right now."