The Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM) is putting abandoned properties and vacant lots as a top issue ahead of their annual convention this March.
SARM says that RMs are struggling with the cleanup of these properties which puts a strain on their finances.
“Derelict buildings and yard sites are not only an eye sore but also threaten community safety," says Bill Huber, SARM President, "SARM invites the provincial government to step up and assist in the removal and remediation of these buildings."
"Rural municipalities want to encourage families to live, work, and stay in rural Saskatchewan and nothing is more discouraging than a surplus of abandoned buildings and yard sites. Financial help from the provincial government would allow RMs to develop plans and take action on abandoned properties.”
Those properties can come with a number of problems, says SARM Executive Director Laurel Feltin.
"Basically any of those ones that are derelict, kind of sitting there unused and people don't own them anymore. So what happens is basically those types of structures get absorbed into the RM and they take over the title of that property and then they have a lot of structural problems. They become a fire hazard and just jeopardize public safety in general."
Those properties can be very expensive to properly clean according to Feltin.
"I think that's the biggest challenge. A lot of them do have asbestos or lead paint or other hazardous materials, they've been around for a long time, and I think RMs, it's a costly burden to take on that demolition all on their own, especially with just basically ratepayers money. So we just thought it's a great opportunity and this isn't new for SARM. We've had resolutions on this for years. I'm looking to share that cost with senior levels of government."
SARM is looking across North America for a solution and Feltin believes they found a solution from a western province.
"SARM's been looking across North America to see if there's other programs like this in place, and I think BC has a really interesting one that SARM really thinks would lend itself well to this province."
"They basically provide a 30% rebate, so up to 50,000. So RMs know that they're going to share in the cost, but it would be nice to share with the province if we could. 30 per cent would be a nice option to kind of make sure our RMs have some additional funds to do this well."
With some focus on rural RMs, Feltin says she believes the province will be able to clean these lots up well.