Anmore moves to beef up building bylaw enforcement with new fines

The Village of Anmore is set to tighten its grip on construction rulebreakers, introducing a new slate of fines for violations of its building bylaw — penalties that until now have not existed.

Council unanimously directed staff to draft bylaw amendments to its enforcement bylaw on Oct. 7, including fines for infractions ranging from failing to obtain a building permit to obstructing inspections and ignoring stop-work orders.

The move is intended to give village staff the legal tools to directly enforce construction rules and improve compliance, which has been difficult under the current system.

“Currently we do not have any fines in our bylaw notice enforcement bylaw related to our building bylaw,” said CAO Karen Elrick. “So this is, as you can imagine, causing challenges to staff when there are infractions occurring. Other than stop work orders, we really don’t have any punitive measures in place at this time.”

Anmore adopted its bylaw enforcement framework in 2021, but until now it hasn’t included any penalties tied to the building. That has limited the village’s ability to issue tickets, which must be linked to specific bylaws in order to be legally enforceable.

The proposed fines aim to close that gap. Among the recommended penalties are:

• $500 for commencing construction without a permit or occupying a building without a valid occupancy permit.

• $150 for submitting false information, tampering with notices, obstructing inspections, failing to post permits or keep plans on site, or allowing construction debris to spread onto village property.

• $500 for failing to comply with a stop-work order.

The proposed fines, Elrick added, have been benchmarked against those in neighbouring communities.

While councillors unanimously supported the bylaw overhaul, some expressed concern the proposed fines might not be strong enough to deter serious infractions.

“Some of these, such as tampering with a notice — I think I would up the fine,” said Coun. Paul Weverick. “That’s pretty blatant to me and really getting in the way of our bylaw process. Another one: obstruction of an inspection — like why would anyone do that? That could be a bigger fine.”

Coun. Doug Richardson agreed, warning that minor fines could simply be treated as the cost of doing business by large developers.

“A fine only works if you know it stops you from doing something because it’s more expensive than what you’re doing anyway,” he said. “If you’re building a $5 million house, and a failure to stop a work order is only 500 bucks — who cares? You’re spending $30,000 a day or some crazy amount. You’re going to just keep on going. It’s got to be big enough to make you actually comply.”

Despite those concerns, Mayor John McEwen called the move an important starting point that will help the village crack down on non-compliant builders and recover some enforcement costs.

“I think this is a good first step,” McEwan said. “While they may not be as punitive as some want, I think it actually gets people’s attention. It actually offers some sort of cost recovery as well.”

Once council receives the draft amendments, it will decide whether to adopt them into the enforcement bylaw. Updated bylaws will then be posted publicly, with additional communications and signage planned to inform builders and property owners of the new penalties.