Fortification of Land By-law - PW-8

A by-law to regulate the fortification of and
protective elements applied to land.

WHEREAS section 217 of the Municipal Act, R.S.O. 1990 c, M.45, as
amended, provides that by-laws may be passed by a Council of a Municipality
regulating the fortification of and protective elements applied to land within the
municipality;

AND WHEREAS section 217 of the Municipal Act, R.S.O. 1990 c.M.45, as
amended, provides that by-laws may be passed by a Council of a Municipality for the
prohibition of excessive fortification and excessive protective elements;

AND WHEREAS access to, and exit from land, buildings and structures
may be required by municipal and law enforcement officials and/or emergency services
personnel;

AND WHEREAS the fortification of and protective elements applied to
land may restrict, obstruct or impede access to and exit from land, buildings and
structures;

AND WHEREAS the Council of The Corporation of the City of London
deems it necessary for the health, safety and welfare of the inhabitants of the City of
London to enact a by-law providing for regulation of fortification of land and the
application of protective elements as well as the prohibition of excessive fortification of
land and the application of excessive protective elements to land within the City of
London;

AND WHEREAS the excessive fortification of land or the application of
excessive protective elements to land is likely to pose a serious risk to the health, safety
and welfare of municipal and law enforcement officials and/or emergency services
personnel when confronted with such land when acting in the course of their lawful
duties or in response to emergency situations and as well to the occupants of land
whose ability to escape an emergency situation is or may be hindered or prevented;

AND WHEREAS the excessive fortification of land or the application of
excessive protective elements to land is likely to pose a serious threat to the safety and
integrity of abutting land as well as the owners and occupiers thereof by restricting,
obstructing, impeding or preventing municipal and law enforcement officials and/or
emergency services personnel from responding to emergency situations effectively and
in a timely manner.

THEREFORE the Municipal Council of The Corporation of the City of
London enacts as follows:

SHORT TITLE

THE FORTIFICATION OF LAND BY-LAW

PART 1
DEFINITIONS

1.1 Definitions

In this by-law:

City - defined

“City” means the City of London.

Chief Building Official - defined

“Chief Building Official” means the officer appointed by Council as the Chief Building
Official pursuant to the Building Code Act S.O. 1992 c.23, as amended, and includes a
Building Inspector.

Construct - defined

“construct” includes doing anything in the erection, installation, extension, or material
alteration or repair of a building or structure, and “construction” has a corresponding
meaning.

Emergency Services Personnel - defined

“emergency services personnel” includes any individual employed by a police service,
fire service (including volunteer firefighters) and ambulance service in Ontario who is
acting in accordance with the obligations imposed upon them (whether by statutory or
common law duty) by their position and includes any person who is directed by any
emergency services personnel to do or refrain from doing anything and to act on those
directions.

Excessive Fortification - defined

“excessive fortification” means fortification that is excessive and includes but is not
limited to:

(a) protection plaques or plates made of metal or any other material installed
inside or outside a building;

(b) an observation tower, whether integrated or not, to a building;

(c) laminated glass or any other type of glass or material that is bullet-proof or
difficult to break in the event of a fire, installed in windows or doors,
including protection shutters;

(d) armoured or specially reinforced doors designed to resist the impact of
firearms, battering rams, explosives or vehicle contact;

(e) grills or bars made of metal or any other material installed on doors,
windows and other openings that limit the rapid exit from a building or
structure in an emergency situation, except for those installed at the
basement or cellar level;

(f) masonry, including brick and concrete block over windows or doorways;

(g) secondary walls or other obstructions in front of landings, doors or
windows;

(h) concrete, metal or other material installed as pillars or barriers designed to
prohibit, restrict, obstruct or impede access to any land through
conventional means or modes of transportation; and

(i) any fence or gate constructed, installed, or maintained or reinforced with
metal or similar materials in excess of 3 millimetres in thickness;
and “excessively fortify” has a corresponding meaning.

Excessive Protective Elements - defined

“excessive protective elements” means protective elements that are excessive and
includes but is not limited to:

(a) perimeter warning devices such as “laser eyes” or other types of
advanced warning systems be it electronic or otherwise designed to
forewarn of the entry onto the perimeter of land from adjoining lands or
roadways but excluding similar applications to forewarn of entry into a
structure located on land;

(b) electrified fencing or any similar barrier including hidden traps, electrified
doors, or windows, land mines or other explosive devices or any weapon
or thing that may become a weapon when triggered or activated on entry
to land whether designed to, or by application in such manner is, likely to
cause death or serious injury; and

(c) visual surveillance equipment, including video cameras, night vision
systems, or electronic surveillance devices capable of permitting either
stationary or scanned viewing or listening, beyond the perimeter of the
land.

Fortification - defined

“fortification” includes the installation, application, or maintenance of devices, barriers,
or materials in a manner designed to restrict, obstruct or impede, or having the effect of,
restricting, obstructing or impeding, access to or from land, and “fortify” has a
corresponding meaning.

Land - defined

“land” means land including buildings, mobile homes, mobile buildings, mobile
structures, outbuildings, fences, erections, physical barriers and any other structure on
the land or on or in any structure on the land.

Maintain - defined

“maintain” means to allow the continued existence of a device, barrier, structure, or
material whether or not repairs are undertaken, and “maintenance” has a corresponding
meaning.

Municipal Law Enforcement Officer - defined

“Municipal Law Enforcement Officer” includes a Municipal Law Enforcement Officer
appointed pursuant to either paragraph 45 of section 207 of the Municipal Act, R.S.O.
1990, c. M.45, as amended, from time to time, or pursuant to subsection 15(1) of the
Police Services Act, R.S.O. 1990, c.P.15, as amended, from time to time.

Person - defined

“person” means a natural person, a corporation, partnership or association and their
heirs, executors, administrators or other legal representatives of a person to whom the
context can apply according to law.

Protective Elements - defined

“protective elements” includes any object, material component or any contrivance
designed for surveillance or to restrict, obstruct, or impede, or having the effect of
surveillance or restricting, obstructing, or impeding, access to and exit from land.

PART 2
PROHIBITED MATTERS

2.1 No person shall:

(a) Excessively fortify any land so as to restrict, obstruct or impede municipal
and law enforcement officials and/or emergency personnel from accessing
or exiting any land; and

(b) apply excessive protective elements to land or maintain excessive
protective elements applied to land so as to restrict, obstruct or impede
municipal and law enforcement officials and/or emergency personnel from
accessing or exiting any land.

PART 3
EXEMPTIONS

3.1 Section 2.1 of this by-law does not apply to:

(a) financial institutions as identified and listed in Schedule I, II, and III of the
Bank Act S.C. 1991, c.46, as amended, from time to time that is zoned for
such use or otherwise lawfully permitted;

(b) detention centres operated by or on behalf of the Government of Canada
or Ontario, zoned for such use, or otherwise lawfully permitted;

(c) lands owned or occupied by the Ontario Provincial Police or the London
Police Service in accordance with the Ontario Police Service Act;

(d) lands owned or occupied by the Federal Department of National Defence;

(e) lands owned or occupied by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police;

(f) lands owned and occupied by the City;

(g) other commercial, business, industrial, or institutional establishments
where the nature of the undertaking necessitates particular elements of
excessive fortification or excessive protective elements and where such
use is permitted by the Zoning Bylaw of the City or provided such use is
otherwise lawfully permitted, but only to the extent necessary having
consideration for the nature of the undertaking;

(h) a lawfully permitted private dwelling where the nature of the lawful use of
the dwelling necessitates particular elements of excessive fortification or
excessive protective elements, but only to the extent necessary having
consideration for the nature of such use.

PART 4
POWER OF ENTRY

4. 1 ENTRY – BY OFFICIALS

The Chief Building Official or a Municipal Law Enforcement Officer, may at any
reasonable time, enter and inspect any land to determine whether this by-law, or an
Order made under it is being complied with.

4.2 ENTRY – CONSENT OR WARRANT

No person shall exercise a power of entry under this by-law to enter a place, or a part of
a place, that is used as a dwelling, unless;

(a) the occupier of the dwelling place consents to entry, having first been
informed of his or her right to refuse consent; or

(b) if the occupier refuses to consent, the power to enter is exercised under
the authority of a warrant issued under section 158 of the Provincial
Offences Act.

PART 5
ORDERS

5.1 ORDER – CORRECT CONTRAVENTION

If the Chief Building Official or a Municipal Law Enforcement Officer is satisfied that a
contravention of this by-law has occurred, the Chief Building Official or the Officer may
make an Order requiring work to be done to correct the contravention, and the Order
shall set out:

(a) the municipal address or the legal description of the land;

(b) reasonable particulars of the contravention and of the work to be done and
the period within which there must be compliance with the Order; and

(c) a notice stating that if the work is not done in compliance with the Order
within the period it specifies, the City may have the work done at the
expense of the owner of the land, and the City may recover the expense
incurred in doing it by action, or the same may be recovered in like
manner as municipal taxes.

5.2 TIME - CORRECTION

The period described in section 5.1 (b) of this by-law shall not be less than three (3)
months if the fortifications or protective elements were present on the land on the day
this by-law is passed.

5.3 CITY – WORK DONE

If the work required by an Order under this Part of the by-law is not done within the
specified period, the City, its employees and/or agents may at any reasonable time
enter upon the land to do the work.

PART 6
ADMINISTRATION AND ENFORCEMENT

6. 1 ENFORCEMENT – CBO & MLEO

The Chief Building Official shall be responsible for the administration of this by-law, and
Municipal Law Enforcement Officers of the City shall be responsible for the enforcement
of this By-law.

PART 7
PENALTIES

7.1 OFFENCE - PENALTY

Any person who contravenes any provision of this by-law is guilty of an offence and
upon conviction is liable to any penalty as provided for in the Provincial Offences Act.

7.2 COURT ORDER – PROHIBIT CONTINUED OFFENCE

The court in which a conviction has been entered, and any court of competent
jurisdiction thereafter, may make an order prohibiting the continuation or repetition of
the offence by the person convicted, and such order shall be in addition to any other
penalty imposed on the person convicted.

PART 8
SEVERABILITY

8.1 UNSEVERED SECTIONS – STILL IN FORCE

If a court of competent jurisdiction should declare any section of this by-law, or Part
thereof, to be invalid, such section or Part thereof is deemed severable from this by-law
and shall not be construed as having influenced Council to pass the remainder of this
by-law, and it is the intention of Council that the remainder of this by-law shall survive
and remain in force.

PART 9
ENACTMENT

9.1 This By-law comes into force on the day it is passed.

PASSED in Open Council November 18, 2002.

Anne Marie De Cicco

Mayor

Linda M. Rowe

Manager of Legislative Services

First Reading - November 18, 2002

Second Reading - November 18, 2002

Third Reading – November 18, 2002