City cleans up old Schoenborn property
Landscaping crews could be seen mowing the lawn and trimming the hedges of an unsightly property on Telemon Place — notoriously known as the old Schoenborn place — Thursday morning.
The home where Allan Schoenborn murdered his three children, aged five, eight and 10, has stood empty since the incident on April 6, 2008 and, untended, the property became overgrown with weeds.
City of Merritt Bylaw Services Officer Bob Davis said he had recently received four or five complaints about the state of the property and sent a notice to the owners, which expired Thursday.
While many residents in the area have called for the mobile home to be removed completely, Davis said he can only deal with the bylaw issues of unsightly properties.
"There is definitely a stigma attached to the property, but the City can't do anything about that," he said. "What we can do is compel the owners to keep it tidy or to hire someone for them."
Once the notice expired, Davis hired local contractor Vickie's A Little Off The Top Landscaping to clean up the yard and will send the bill to the property owners.
He said the clean-up costs for this property are relatively inexpensive — about $300 — but added the tipping fees at the landfill to dispose of the waste drive the cost up.
"This neighbourhood deserves to have the property kept as tidy as possible," said Davis. "We're going to make it as neat as we can and we will recreate the tidiness of what it should be."
The landscaping work prompted conversation from Merritt residents on Facebook who were happy to see the City taking action to clean up the yard. Some called for the home to be removed completely and others suggested a memorial in its place.
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