A member of council is looking for answers when it comes to encroachment problems in his ward and across Windsor that's pitting neighbour against neighbour.
Ward 3's Renaldo Agostino points to a situation in his ward where property owners are dealing with issues around landscaping or structures going over their property line and onto city property, some of which have been that way for several decades.
Encroachments are classified as structures such as fences, sheds, walls, along with landscape features, or private utility connections located in the public right-of-way.
Agostino says neighbours are calling on neighbours and filing complaints with the city after losing their own encroachment battle.
"Now they've taken it upon themselves to rat out everybody else in the neighbourhood. In Ward 3, it's become a huge issue. I've met with residents, I get the phone calls, and I'm trying to help people in this current situation," he says. "Ultimately, they are wrong, but they've been wrong for 20, 30, 40 years. The mistakes of the past are coming to creep up on people, and they just don't have the money to deal with it."
He says one person alone has filed over 60 complaints with the city about property encroachment issues in the ward.
Some of the issues identified involve front yards, as a certain amount of a property's frontage is owned by the city, while some of the other issues involve encroachment into alleyways.
Agostino says he's trying to find a solution.
"It's nobody's fault. I don't blame the residents; I don't blame the city. But this is 20, 30, 40 years ago; people looked the other way and nobody seemed to care," he says. "Now people are trying to use this as leverage in fights against their neighbours, which is terrible, but it's the reality of what's happening."
Agostino says he's asked city administration for a report on how to deal with this situation.
"Is there some type of variance that we can lean on or have other municipalities gone through the same thing? What can we do to help? How can we mitigate this? In some cases, you're looking at $20,000 to $25,000 to be able to get encroachments. You're looking at $20,000 to $25,000 to be able to move a fence," he says.
City administration will deliver a report to council at a future meeting.