Rankin Inlet (July 12/06) - Rankin Inlet councillors are taking aim at messy front yards with a new bylaw that could mean fines for home owners with broken-down vehicles and animal carcasses strewn across their properties.

Rankin Inlet councillors are proposing a bylaw that could lead to fines for messy yards. - Andrew Raven/NNSL photo

"It has been a problem here since Adam and Eve," said Coun. Robert Janes.

The so-called unsightly lands bylaw passed first and second reading during a July 4 council meeting. It could become law during the next session, scheduled for July 17, said Mayor Lorne Kusugak.

While the penalties have yet to be determined, Kusugak said they could range from the cost of removing the offending mess to fines, perhaps in the hundreds of dollars range.

"There are vehicles that have been sitting out there for years," he said. "This will be a tool to make our town a cleaner place to be."

Kusugak believes the law will give municipal officials the necessary teeth to deal with perpetually messy properties. The hamlet will be on the lookout for everything from animal carcasses, to scrapped ATVs, cars and boats, he said.

One messy yard tends to have a mushroom effect on the entire street, Kusugak said. Not only do the strong, Hudson Bay winds blow garbage from one house to another, home owners can feel helpless against their neighbours' growing tide of trash, he said.

"Eventually, your garbage will end up in my yard," he said.

The mess also leaves a bad impression with tourists, said Janes, who operates a tour service during the summer.

"It just looks bad," he said.

But while Janes likes the idea of keeping the hamlet clean, there may be some practical problems with the bylaw, he said.

Most people with broken-down vehicles on their property use the machines for spare parts - an important cost-saver in an area where even basic auto supplies cost hundreds of dollars, Janes said.

There is no place in town where homeowners can keep those vehicles without them being "cannibalized," he said.

Instead of being forced to remove cars, trucks and ATVs, people could be asked to tidy them up, Janes said.

Those suggestions, and other possible changes to the bylaw, will likely be discussed during the next council meeting.