A derelict building's facade crumbled 1.5 years ago in Hamilton. The city has yet to demolish it

Over a year and a half after the front facade of aHamilton building crumbled onto the busy downtown street below, it sits vacant, derelict and close tocollapsing,saycity staff.

A tall metal fence surrounds the property on King Street East, comprised of three,three-storey buildings,blocking pedestriansfrom using the sidewalk, nearby crosswalk and lane of traffic.

Garbage accumulates in the area and police officers regularly respond to calls for assaults, shootings and weapons at the vacant site, staff reported tocouncil's planning committee last week.

Despite all of these issues dating back to August 2022,the city is only nowmoving to have itdemolished, much to the frustration of the community,said Ward 3Coun. Nrinder Nann.

It's a "blight" on the street, impacting local businesses and families trying to walk their kids to the nearby elementary school, she said.

"Why did we wait so long to enforce compliance?" Nannsaid in an interview."At what point do we value public safety as a paramount? It just does not make sense."

Tenants evicted due to unsafe conditions

The ordeal began on Aug. 5, 2022 with a complaint from the Hamilton fire department and police service.A portion of brick masonry collapsed and wooden beams across the front of the buildings had deteriorated, among other issues.

That day, thecity's building divisionordered the property owner to address the safety issues, the recent staffreport said. Tenants also had to vacate their six units, and were assisted by police and firefighters due to "structural safety concerns."

The property owner did not comply, so thebuilding division had the front facade fully removed from all three buildings and installed temporary fencing to protect passersby from "the potential collapse of the buildings or falling debris," the report said.

The property owner did not respond to a request for comment.

Bob Nuttall, building inspections manager with the city, told CBC Hamilton that after the buildings were secured, the owner was required to decide what to with the property.

"That inability to make forward progress in those decisions" resulted in the building division passing the file to municipal law enforcement in January, Nuttall said.

Bylaw officers first tried to work with the property owner to gain compliance, said Dan Smith, acting director for municipal licensing and bylaw services, at the committee meeting last week.

When that didn't work, bylawissued multiple orders to the owner inMay 2023 about eight months afterthe facade collapsed. The owner appealed the orders, requesting more time to address the issues, which the property standards committee granted until Aug. 30, said the staff report.

That deadline came and went without the necessarywork being done and since then the city has been determining the best way forward, said Kim Coombs, enforcement manager.

'Tangible health and safety concerns'

Meanwhile, Nann said the community suffered "tangible health and safety concerns" that weren't adequately addressed while the city spent thousands of dollarsin police resources that can't be recovered from the owner.

"All of that because this property owner wasn't able to take care of the building when it was operating, let alone subsequently when the facade had fallen down," Nann said.

The city has added$240,000 to the owner's property tax bill to pay for the initial work to make the building temporarily safe, as well as nearly $8,000 in fees and penalties, the report said.

Staff have recommended thecity move forward with demolition, which was approved by the planning committee and will go to council this week. If approved, demolitionwill likely be completearoundJune, said Smith.

It will cost about $242,000, to be billed to the owner, and be a quicker, simplerfix than trying to repair the building.

Nann said she and Coun. Cameron Kroetsch (Ward 2) will be tabling a motion this summer for staff to look into revising how bylaws are enforced so that if there arepublic health and safety concerns, orders can be fast tracked.

A major concern is that "bad faith" property owners are getting an "unfair advantage" if the city tries to get compliance before enforcing its rules, which also draws out the process,Nann said.

"That has to stop," she said.