Residents in the Parkdale neighbourhood say they've been trying for months to get the city to deal with a massive pile of trash that has been accumulating in an alley since January.
The back alley behind a home at 11228 86th St. has a trash heap of coffee cups, clothes, food and furniture.
"It's annoying, but at the same time I'm used to it," said Danisa Catacutan, whose back yard overlooks the mess.
"It happens consistently. All the time … or they'll put it on someone else's property."
The home is boarded up, with broken front windows and a dilapidated fence.
Catacutan said she started to notice the trash heap at the start of the year, but it has grown much bigger since then.
$250 fine issued
The city started receiving complaints about the property earlier this year.
Keith Scott, acting director for bylaw services, said a $250 fine was issued to the homeowner on Jan. 9.
"We do have a history with this house," said Scott. "There's been (11) complaints since 2016 for a number of issues."
The complaints include nuisance on property, dog at large and garbage outside of the home.
"Each time we've gone there we've been able to get (compliance,)" said Scott.
City bylaw officers went to the property in January and issued a clean-up order. Scott said they typically allow 21 days for compliance, but the amount of snow in the area complicated the clean-up.
"The pictures that we had on file weren't as bad … I'd say it's grown 10 times (since January,)" said Scott. "The order would be to clean up all of that mess to make sure it's free of debris, garbage and litter."
Scott said a bylaw investigator will be contacting the homeowner right away.
Frustrated neighbours in the area posted pictures of the trash pile on Reddit over the weekend. Some comments took aim at the city's slow response to complaints.
Although Catacutan didn't call the city about the trash heap, she said it took months to resolve calls about other problem properties on the street.
"We've responded extremely quickly in a lot of the other complaints that have been issued in the past," said Scott.
While Scott couldn't give an exact estimate of how much time the owner would have to clean up the trash, he said if the owner does not comply the city will clean up the mess and put the tab on the homeowner's tax bill.