{"id":32523,"date":"2023-01-26T21:20:42","date_gmt":"2023-01-27T02:20:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=32523"},"modified":"2023-01-26T21:20:43","modified_gmt":"2023-01-27T02:20:43","slug":"pre-construction-safety-inspection-proposed-by-building-division","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/pre-construction-safety-inspection-proposed-by-building-division\/","title":{"rendered":"Pre-construction safety inspection proposed by building division"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Following a series of complaints on rental spaces advertised as a secondary suite\u2014a self-contained unit within a house that has its own kitchen, bathroom and separate entrance\u2014 that did not follow safety protocols and provide secondary exit points, Aurora\u2019s Building department has developed a preliminary strategy to attempt to inspect and close out any outstanding building permits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen somebody applies for a building permit for a second suite, we have a comprehensive bylaw about what has to be done,\u201d said Ward 3 Councillor Wendy Gaertner, who first brought the motion to Council last summer. \u201cThere was a building permit that was issued and it was never checked to see what was being done. In the meantime, there was a person in the basement without a second way to get out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI believe we have an obligation and a responsibility if somebody applies for a building permit for a second suite that we need to be there, we need to see what they’re doing. And I don’t think we have to wait till they ask us. I think that that’s something we can do by right.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the strategies proposed in the new report provided by the building division was to conduct a pre-construction meeting with the homeowner or applicant on site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd the purpose of this meeting would be to specifically address the main fire safety issues that would help the applicant ensure that the building is safe,\u201d said municipal Building Manager Bill Jean, adding that smoke alarms and exits would also be inspected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHaving that pre-construction meeting, I think would address the major life safety concerns that could take place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gaertner said she is more concerned about situations where the building is not following safety protocols under the Town\u2019s radar, such as secondary suites created without a permit, and where the Town is denied access for a safety inspection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jean said that based on the statistics he compiled over the last ten years, the success rate of entering a suite or gaining voluntary compliance to the suite is at 94 per cent. If access can\u2019t be granted, typically six per cent of the time, Jean said the Town could get a search warrant to gain compliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One problem, however, is that the chance of getting a search warrant from the justice system based on a complaint is slim to none, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf it’s unsuccessful, our hands are basically tied.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gaertner said that the six per cent gap is \u201ctoo high\u201d and that the Town needs to do something to ensure the safety of residents living in secondary suites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jean said that they will work toward continuous attempts to gain access to the building for inspection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On one instance he dealt with for almost two years, only after constant phone calls did they finally access the building and gain compliance with regards to the unit. Jean said that other factors to take into account is when the owner could not get the tenant to move out and the tenant would refuse access to the suite as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, the preliminary strategy is to contact the owner once the building permit is issued and to have a pre-construction meeting with them on site to go over minimum code requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd at that point, the inspector and the homeowner or the applicant can make arrangements on inspections, and when they can finally come back to a finalized inspection. So, that’s one of our strategies that we’re proposing for new building permits for secondary suites,\u201d Jean said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ward 2 Councillor Rachel Gilliland said she would like to see an established timeline in place for when the final inspection will take place, rather than waiting upon the owner to contact the Town themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere seems to be no established timeline, other than relying on the goodwill of the person to contact the Town for that final inspection,\u201d she said. \u201cI would just like to see some sort of natural follow up after a certain amount of time after that inspection, and communication with that resident, and if nothing has been done proactively, we just call and say, \u2018Hey, it’s been six months, I haven’t heard from you. Are you ready to sign off for inspection?\u2019 And just do our due diligence as opposed to waiting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response to a question from Ward 5 Councillor John Gallo, Jean said that secondary suites should not be leased out until they receive their final safety inspection but \u201cthat doesn’t always happen, and that’s when [they] get into the enforcement strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Elisa Nguyen<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following a series of complaints on rental spaces advertised as a secondary suite\u2014a self-contained unit within a house that has its own kitchen, bathroom and separate entrance\u2014 that did not follow safety protocols and provide secondary exit points, Aurora\u2019s Building department has developed a preliminary strategy to attempt to inspect and close out any outstanding […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-8sz","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-26 05:09:37","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32523\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}