Councillor Les Stulberg has some concerns about a vacant mobile home on Main Street, Endiang; that problem could be just the beginning for the county.
Stulberg brought forward his concern about a vacant mobile home that had been moved into the community several years ago.
According to Stulberg, the property, which is now owned by the county, is “unsightly and unsafe.”
“It’s never been lived in. It was gutted to become a business,” Stulberg said.
“The residents want to know when it can be taken out of there.”
However, according to the County of Stettler director of operations, Rick Green, the property Stulberg is concerned about is one symptom of a much larger issue.
In Endiang alone there are several other structures in disrepair, some on the same block as the one Stulberg is concerned about, that need to be dealt with and it is turning into an issue county wide.
Green’s recommendation to council was to look at the whole block where the issue mobile home is, and budget to remediate the whole site. While the costs would be higher than doing one individual site, in the long run doing several at once would be cheaper for the county.
One concern with the remediation of the properties is site safety. According to Green, any property that needs demolition work must have a hazardous material investigation conducted, and if anything is found that would drive up costs considerably.
Still, council noted that with more and more of the rural urban areas being absorbed into the county, derelict buildings are going to be a bigger and bigger issue going forward and dealing with them needs to be discussed in the county’s strategic plan.
“I agree, this needs to go to strategic planning,” said Coun. James Nibourg.
“This is a systemic issue.”
In the meantime, council directed Green to get demolition and remediation costs for the structures on the block of the mobile home in Endiang and bring them back to the July meeting.
