The North Shore Business Improvement Association, would like to see action taken on derelict buildings particularly along the Tranquille corridor.

While appearing on the NL Morning News, NSBIA Executive Director, Jeremy Heighton, says the issue of unkempt buildings has not been addressed and it needs to be done in order for the area to move forward. “We use the term investor for somebody who owns a property but quite frankly if you’ve bought a piece of property and you let it rot over ten or fifteen years, you’ve not an investor, you’re a holder. You’re just holding property.”

Heighton says it’s time to either fix them up or let someone else take over. “Those people that refuse to address some of the challenging issues we’ve got, we have to use mechanisms.”

“So, we’ve written letters, we’ve identified areas of the good neighbour policy which are violated. We’ve talked about graffiti and tagging. We’ve talked about community safety with these property owners.”

He says he’s ready to bring in outside help if need be. “The challenge now is if they’re not going to move on them then we have to ask those partners, like for example the city’s bylaw department to assist us in moving some of those developers either along and getting them onside, which is our goal, of maybe it’s time to sell them to somebody who actually has a vision and wants to contribute to our communities.”

Heighton calls it “a tough place to be in” and he’d rather see an amicable solution.

He admits there are properties on the North Shore which are ignored and says owners have a responsibility to contribute to the community and not take away from it.