The Municipality of Huron East has deferred a decision on its vacant building by-law until next month.
This week's meeting opened with a delegation from local developer Pete Klaver, who brought up concerns with the proposed regulation, which would charge owners of vacant or partially vacant buildings to register those buildings.
The proposed by-law would charge a registration fee of $450 and yearly renewal at $900. Fines for failing to register would start at $600.
Klaver argued many of the empty storefronts in downtowns have tenants upstairs, and this policy would have major negative impacts in the effort to punish the few inactive owners of derelict properties.
Deputy Mayor Alvin McLellan agreed they should limit the scope in the beginning.
"Maybe we're asking for too much by trying to find the right equation to tax somebody or penalize somebody," he said. "Maybe we should just back up a little bit and look at the buildings that are totally empty. Lets focus on them, lets get something done with them, because we can stand on something by doing that. It's just when we get into partial occupancy and stuff like that, it makes things kind of tough."
Economic Development Officer Taralyn Cronin said one of the big issues is just getting a hold of some of these owners.
"In Brussels in particular, we've had a lot of issues with entrepreneurs trying to secure a space and not getting any response," she said. "I don't get any response either. It's not as much of an issue in downtown Seaforth, but it depends on the type of business wanting to go in... but we just have property owners that don't respond to any form of communication."
Council moved to defer a discussion on the by-law until next month, as members seek more input on the by-law.
