Building maintenance bylaw on the way
Posted May 28, 2014 6:13 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The City of Calgary is looking at ways to force property owners, especially in the downtown, to better maintain their buildings.
The recent cases of the crumbling wall at an office tower on 7 Street and 6 Avenue, and glass falling from a window at the Hudson’s Bay building on First Street SW and Stephen Avenue are two examples of why a new bylaw is being drafted.
Chief Building Inspector Marco Civitarese tells 660News they’ve toughened rules for new building construction in the core to protect the public from falling debris, now it’s time to focus on older structures.
“What we don’t have is maintenance bylaws that address conditions or periodic maintenance of buildings that are exisiting, and so we work with conditions of reaction now,” said Civitarese. “The reaction position is not where we want to be we want to be in a proactive position where a maintenance bylaw is in place that says you must maintain buildings to a degree in a certain and have reviews over a certain time period.”
He hopes to have the bylaw ready to go before Calgary City Council in the fall.
