Frustrated business owners in Toronto’s Yonge and Wellesley area say the city is refusing to clean up piles of trash that regularly accumulate in an adjacent alley because it is private property – even though the last known owner of la ruelle died more than a century ago.

Sara Sadrolhefazi, owner of Nabulu Coffee on St. Joseph Street, says she spent $5,000 in the year she owned the property, hiring contractors to clean up trash left in the driveway behind his store.

“It hurts, both mentally and financially,” Sadrolhefazi told CBC Toronto. “It’s an extra burden and it just gives us a little bit of stress, not knowing what’s going to happen the next day and what we’re going to have to face.”

Sadrolhefazi and half a dozen of his neighbors signed a letter to their local councilor, Chris Moise, earlier this week asking the city to take charge of the cleanup. But Moise told CBC Toronto the city’s hands are tied.

“It’s private property,” Moise said. “We are responsible for our own streets and alleys, of which there are many in the city.”

Moise said he would continue to talk with local businesses to try to find a solution. For now, he suggested area businesses organize their own community cleanups to keep the driveway clear.

City says it’s investigating cause of dumping

City staff told CBC Toronto they are investigating the cause of the constant dumping in the alley behind Saint-Joseph Street. But in Sadrolhefazi’s letter to Moise, she says the neighbors know exactly where the waste comes from.

“Despite our best efforts, this area is repeatedly vandalized by struggling individuals who consider the alley their home,” the letter read. “Waste is frequently vandalized, leading to serious health and hygiene problems, further aggravated by animal activity.”

Sadrolhefazi and her neighbor Asha McLeod, who runs a salon at her property at 8 St. Joseph St., say they have nothing but sympathy for the homeless people who frequent the neighborhood, but they are frustrated by the lack intervention by municipal staff.

Both McLeod and Sadrolhefazi said it’s time for the city to address the problem of the so-called orphan alley.

“It’s disgusting,” said longtime owner McLeod. “I’ve been collecting needles for two and a half decades.”

In an emailed statement to CBC Toronto, city staff said: “The City of Toronto is aware of the presence of litter/debris in the alley near 6 St. Joseph Street. A complaint about this was received in September and the City worked with the property rights on the driveway as it was identified as private property.

Hundreds of “orphan streets” across the city

But Adam Wynne, chair of the Toronto and East York Community Preservation Panel, said he had already done the legwork and discovered there was no longer a legal owner, making the area behind St. Joseph Street a “orphan alley”.

Wynne said Ontario Land Registry records show the lane last changed hands in 1882, when it was purchased by a William Jones for $9,000. Jones has been dead for at least a hundred years, Wynne said.

“It is absolutely ridiculous that the City of Toronto is asking adjacent landowners to clean up trash from an alley owned by someone who has clearly been deceased for over a hundred years,” Wynne said. “There were 16 other Joneses in Toronto in 1882, so identifying heirs would be quite a challenge.”

City records show the last of the 16 died in 1904, Wynne said.

He recommended that the city consider expropriating the property and accept responsibility for its upkeep. Wynne said it’s just one of hundreds of orphan alleys he’s identified throughout the city.

Moise suggested that a citywide solution was probably not on the horizon.

“There are hundreds of orphan alleys in the city,” he said. “I don’t think the problem will be resolved anytime soon. As a city, we can’t tell property owners what to do with their properties.”