SAINT JOHN N.B. -- The city of Saint John is taking a more aggressive approach to dealing with vacant buildings.
The city’s website now includes a link to a map of the uptown and central peninsula, highlighting locations of vacant buildings, details on each property and contact information for the current owners.
“Around the city there are dozens of boarded-up, vacant building – some of which will stay in that condition for years, eventually becoming a safety hazard,” said Saint John Mayor Don Darling.
"You can now click on the map, if the owner is interested in talking about developent opportunities."
City firefighters are often called to vacant building to deal with suspicious fires, but community activists say demolition of boarded up building is not always the answer.
Mary Lesage is a south end resident, she says she likes the city’s latest effort to deal with vacant buildings.
“I think it’s very inventive, there’s building s out there that are definitely not salvageable. But for every one of those, there might be two that are worth saving,” says Lesage.
The city hopes the new website will encourage investment in some of the vacant properties that are not yet beyond repair.
With files from CTV’s Mike Cameron
