High River Town Council has voted to prepare a policy on the enforcement of illegal secondary suites based on a reactive approach. There will be a minimum two complaint requirement for town investigation, but Mayor Craig Snodgrass says there isn't an easy answer to fix this problem.

"It's tough to fix all the issues that possibly surround secondary suites. Whether it's safety issues, whether windows are too small, or it's a parking issue on the street, or it's a neighbor that doesn't like being near a secondary suite of any kind."

He says safety is very important, primarily to avoid a situation that happened a couple years ago in Calgary where a couple couldn't escape a fire because the windows were too small. Snodgrass says enforcement is an issue, but the current process will help the town define what authority they have to deal with safety issues.

"How do you enforce and how do you force somebody to do all the upgrades to make it legal. Because I can guarantee you what's happening right now, there's illegal suites everywhere. And even some that came to council and are trying to do the right thing, and for whatever reason we deny them, they're just building the suite the next day anyways."

Snodgrass says the biggest problem is getting authorization to look at the properties, but just because people complain doesn't make suite illegal. He says the process council is going through will help, but secondary suites is an issue that's tough to win.

"I'm just not convinced that we have all this authority at our disposal right now. Now, this process that we're going through I support it 100 percent because this will define what our authority is to deal with the safety issues. But it's very, very tough. The City of Calgary, it's a nightmare for them just as much as it is for us."

Snodgrass says people need to be careful with the reactive approach, especially when it comes to the legitimacy of a complaint. He says a lot of people just don't want secondary suites anywhere near them, but there are bylaws in place to allow them in R-1 neighborhoods.