The long arm of the (by)law department By Phil Melnychuk
Telling people to move their cars and trucks, clean up their yards, or where and what they can build, can rub people the wrong way. Unless you’ve figured out a way of helping people solve their problems, while following the law, so everyone’s happy. Liz Holitzki has figured it out. After several years in the field, currently as bylaws director for the District of Maple Ridge, Holitzki has had lots of practice explaining the rules and sparing the hurt feelings. It’s an approach she tries to convey to her staff of 30, who will work with anyone and try any solution to ensure a building is built correctly or a yard is kept up. “They do their best to just help them get to where they want to go. But if they dig in their heels, there’s not much we can do. “Tickets aren’t issued, except as a last resort. We’re
Photo by Phil Melnychuk
not ticket-happy here,” she says from her secondstorey office in a quiet corner of municipal hall. If Maple Ridge’s bylaws department didn’t exist, there would be no limits on parking in the downtown. That would seem to be fine to many people, but the shop owners who count on having convenient parking
to attract customers would feel the loss. Hence the one- or two-hour limits on parking in the downtown so that spots continually open up and clients can get to the shops. Without bylaws, you could build a house right up to the sidewalk, and carve it up inside to accommodate
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