A
nn Barber and her husband Wayne are facing an order to clean up their property after a complaint was received from one of their neighbours about it being unsightly.
While that may have been the case at one point after the couple brought home debris from a rental property that was trashed by the former tenants, it is certainly not the case now. Machinery stored at the site is not only functional and needed by the couple, but it’s virtually invisible unless you actually walk down the driveway and pop by for a visit.
After staff acknowledged the couple has completed a great deal of cleanup at the site, directors — some of whom seemed genuinely embarrassed by the whole situation — voted to give them another 90 days to complete the cleanup.
That’s a good step, but it doesn’t go nearly far enough.
Since the original cleanup order can’t be rescinded, what is clearly needed here is an assessment that yes, the property is fine and the case is closed.
The couple has been poorly treated, with one staffer even having the gall to ask them why they needed to own two boats.
There is a very good reason why the RDN has an unsightly premises bylaw, as there is no shortage of sloppy, lazy and slovenly people in this world. However, we would suggest the Barbers do not fit into this category and they should be left alone to enjoy their hobby, sell their eggs from the refrigerator the RDN wants them to get rid of, and live their lives in rural peace.
On a positive note, this situation could well be viewed as a good opportunity for regional district officials to take a good, hard look at the unsightly premises bylaw and see if there might be some tweaks that could be instituted to make this sort of unfortunate incident less likely to take place in future.
— Editorial by Neil Horner
