Neighbours helpless to scrap bylaw-breaking donation bin

Update | After this story was edited, the bin at Parkdale Avenue and Wellington Street West was removed overnight.

The head of a Wellington West business group wants the city to take action on illegal donation bins after a failed struggle to scrap one that appears to violate the city's bylaw.

Dennis Van Staalduinen first became aware of the bin at Parkdale Avenue and Wellington Street West shortly after he joined the Wellington West Business Improvement Area in October.

The bin is located at the Parkdale entrance to the parking lot of the Rexall drugstore.

"I started getting complaints from friends, from merchants who were on the street here," said Van Staalduinen, who has seen junk strewn around the bin on multiple occasions.

"It was ugly, it was unsightly and clearly it didn't belong there."

When he inquired at the drugstore, which is a BIA member, he said management told him the store had never given permission for the bin and also wanted it removed. 

The bin is in violation of several aspects of the city's 2013 bylaw, which regulates donation bins on private property.

It prohibits junk around the bins and also requires certain information be posted on them.

While the bin operator is identified as the Canadian Community Support Foundation, there is no address listed and their phone number on the bin is out of service.

No name and address is posted for the property owner and there is no listing of the operator's other clothing donation boxes.

The city's bylaw requires all of that information.

Property owner responsible

Van Staalduinen said the city's bylaw department has informed him it's the landowner's responsibility to cover the cost of removing a problem box — which Staalduinen said is unfair, since Rexall store management has told him the landlord never gave permission for the box in the first place.

"Getting rid of it involves getting a forklift, getting a truck, carting it away somewhere," Van Staalduinen said.

"So how is it fair that someone who didn't ask for this thing to be here would be responsible for getting rid of it?"

In response to questions about the bin and the process for removing it, the City of Ottawa provided a statement attributed to Roger Chapman, director of by-law and regulatory services.

"Although a Notice of Violation was issued to, and complied with by, the owner of the clothing donation bin in question with respect to the waste and debris issue, By-law & Regulatory Services continues its investigation of this particular bin and therefore, no additional information is available at this time," said the statement.

The Rexall store's manager declined to be interviewed, saying the drugstore chain's head office would not allow her to speak with the media.

Media relations staff at the head office declined to provide information about the Wellington Street property's owner — which land registry records indicate is a numbered company — or to describe what steps the company had taken to get the donation box removed.

Archive images from Google Streetview show a green donation box had appeared on the site by May 2015.

Donation bin operator at centre of controversy

The Canadian Community Support Foundation was in the news in early February when Brennan Cartier, a 35-year-old man connected to the charity, was charged with possession of property obtained by a crime over $5,000 and two counts of mischief. 

The charges came after donation bins stolen from charities including Big Brothers Big Sisters' Outaouais were tracked down at a storage facility in Richmond.

A trial date has not yet been set.

The drugstore manager provided CBC with screenshots of a late-February text message exchange with a man named Brennan, in which she asks for the donation bin to be removed.

In the exchange, Brennan promises to come to the site within 48 hours and remove it.

CBC called the number and the voicemail identified it as Brennan Cartier's phone, but no one responded to phone or text messages from CBC.

Despite the recent controversy surrounding it, the Canadian Community Support Foundation also operates bins at several city facilities including fire stations and recreation centres.

CBC inquired about those locations in late March after a resident complained about a bin outside the Manotick Arena.

At that time, a city spokesperson said the city had given permission for CCSF bins to be placed at 16 locations under  "licence of occupation" agreements available only to registered charities.

On Tuesday, Angela Gatto, a real-estate advisor with the city, said the CCSF has since been asked to remove the bin at the Manotick Arena by May 13.

Charity has reported no donation revenues in last two years

CCSF does have registered charitable status.

However, its filings to the Canada Revenue Agency report no revenue from donations in 2016 or 2017. 

As for the bylaw-breaking box at Parkdale Avenue and Wellington Street West, Dennis Van Staalduinen said he'd like the city to remove it, at taxpayers' expense if necessary.

Van Staalduinen said he'd prefer to see Wellington West residents take their donations to the nearby St. Vincent De Paul thrift store.

City councillor now involved

Jeff Leiper, the city councillor for the area that includes Wellington West, said he was made aware of the Parkdale and Wellington bin last weekend and intends to pursue the matter. 

Two other illegal bins from a different operator have also prompted complaints in his ward recently, Leiper said.

Those bins had been placed on city property without permission and he expected the city would remove both quickly.

Residents who see a bin, which they believe to be illegal, can report it to the city's 311 service line or to their city councillor, Leiper said.