Neighbours raise stink over junkyard next door
Pile was too big and hazardous for city workers to remove
VILLE ÉMARD RESIDENT SUZANNE ROY “Enough is enough. It’s dangerous and we want someone to do something.”
It’s unsightly, it smells and the neighbours are fed up.
A group of Ville Émard residents have started a petition to get one of their neighbours on De Biencourt St. to clean up the accumulated scrap wood and junk they say is a health and safety hazard.
The pile of discarded wood from a do-it-yourself home renovation has attracted skunks, raccoons, groundhogs and neighbourhood cats. The wood and construction debris smells bad, in part thanks to additional garbage left on the site by others who see the cluttered backyard as a neighbourhood dump.
During the recent spate of hot and dry weather, neighbours were periodically hosing down the tottering pile to cut down on the chance that the old dry wood would spontaneously combust.
“Enough is enough,” said neighbour Suzanne Roy. “It’s dangerous and we want someone to do something.”
Evaluation rolls show that the proprietor of the twodwelling building is Guy Dorly Damier.
Neighbours say the problems began when Daumier bought the duplex this year, evicted his tenant and began to rip out walls and floors. Two Dumpsters were placed in front of the home until a city inspector noticed there were no permits issued to allow for those Dumpsters.
According to the neigh- bours of the row houses, the owner got rid of the Dumpsters this spring and began dumping the construction debris from the interior into his back yard.
Complaints by the neighbours fell on deaf ears, they said.
Attempts by The Gazette to speak to Daumier were unsuccessful.
“I’ve only seen him once since this began, and the mail is piling up in the box out front,” Roy said.
Because of complaints about the pile of wooden debris, a fire inspector from the local firehall went by several times to issue warnings to clear up the mess as a hazard but to no avail.
The borough sent a writ- ten warning to Daumier in April asking him to remove the junk within three days. Another warning was sent June 16 demanding he clean up within five days. Nothing was done.
Fed-up neighbours then deposited a petition with the City of Montreal, the SudOuest borough and the fire department on July 6, asking those officials for something to be done once and for all.
It appears something will be done.
“We sent a truck and city workers on June 26 but the job was too large and too dangerous with nails etc. and we couldn’t do it,” said MathieuRobert Peron with the SudOuest borough office. “In rare cases like this, we will send a private contractor to clean up and send a bill to the owner. We’ve only had to do this four or five times in the past 10 years, normally people clean up.”
Peron said the contracted work will be done “in the next few days” and could not say how much it will cost.
“We have advised the owner that our bill will be added to his 2012 taxes,” Peron said.