DEH CHO - A property along the main street in Fort Simpson is emptier following a cleanup by the village.

From Jan. 2 to 3, village employees used a backhoe and a dump truck to remove approximately 12 derelict vehicles from Leo (Yanny) Cordero's lot.

An agreement between the village of Fort Simpson and Leo Cordero allowed village employees to remove derelict vehicles from Cordero's lot last week. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

The cleanup was the end result of a process started by the village council. The council has wanted to see an improvement in the property ever since the gas station and garage business that was situated on the lot shut down, said Tom Matus, the village's senior administrative officer.

Prior to the cleanup, the lot contained more than 25 vehicles including a variety of cars, trucks, vans and a small school bus.

To give the village the tools to address the state of the property, the village's bylaw that deals with derelict buildings and inoperable vehicles was rewritten. The previous bylaw wasn't specific enough and wouldn't have stood the test in court, said Matus.

"It was too grey," he said.

The new bylaw passed its third reading on Sept. 24 and Cordero was served notice. The village, however, didn't have to enforce the letter of the bylaw because an agreement was reached with Cordero, said Matus.

"We worked in good faith with him," he said.

Under the agreement village employees transported approximately 12 vehicles from the main street property to the landfill site. The cost for the removal will be billed to Cordero, said Matus.

At this point the village doesn't have plans for further actions towards the property, he said. There are still some vehicles on the lot because only the vehicles that were thought to be inoperable were removed.

"We just wanted to get some headway in that direction," Matus said.

The village is currently working to clean up one other lot. The owner has been spoken to and it's expected that the village will have to enforce the bylaw, he said. Matus declined to name the lot's owner.

Reaching an agreement with Cordero was a step that was welcomed by the village, said Tom Wilson, the deputy mayor.

"It's a small town so it's nice to have people work together," Wilson said.

Village council had been pushing for action on the property for a while both because of the way it looked, but also for the health and safety of residents, said Wilson.

"That has been our main concern since day one," he said.

Having some of the vehicles removed is just one step, Wilson said. The next step will be to move the propane storage tank off the site. Removing the tank would improve the safety of the lot, he said.

Reached in Vancouver by Deh Cho Drum, Cordero said he'd been willing to co-operate with the village to remove the vehicles.

"I always work with them," Cordero said.

Cordero said he didn't have any plans for the vehicles and was just storing them on the lot. It was a way to get rid of some of them, he said.

Cordero said he's not sure what he'll do with the remainder of the vehicles. He also has no immediate plans for the property.