City of Powell River staff began looking for demolition quotes last week after a council-imposed deadline for tearing down a Joyce Avenue derelict property lapsed.
City council declared the property at 4468 Joyce Avenue a public nuisance last December 15, due to the derelict state of the structure and garbage strewn around the yard. The property owner was given 60 days to tear the house down and clean up the lot or the city would step in to execute the demolition and send the bill to the owner.
The property was being held by the province of BC because its previous owner, 544008 BC Ltd, had dissolved. Rajinder Mann, former principal of that company, applied to the BC Supreme Court and it was restored January 25.
The 60-day demolition deadline expired on Wednesday, February 15, with the house and garage still standing. The issue came before council again at its meeting on Thursday, February 16, when it received a letter from Mann’s Powell River lawyer, Gregory Reif.
According to Reif’s letter dated February 6, Mann is still looking for council to grant him an extension.
“Mann is making his best efforts to overcome the various legal and administrative hurdles that exist,” stated Reif in the letter. “He sincerely wishes to deal with demolition and cleanup on his own. The cost to him is much less if he is able to deal with the matter on his own.”
According to the letter, the February 15 deadline was “unachievable” because Mann had to restore his company and he was not able to apply to the city for a demolition permit until it was restored.
Reif stated that Mann understands his previous request to extend the deadline to the end of June is “unacceptably long,” but he is now prepared to have the work done by the end of April.
City clerk Chris Jackson told council that Mann could have made an application to the city for a demolition permit at any time.
“The only caveat is that we would need the consent of the province because it owns the property,” Jackson told councillors. “We couldn’t accept the application without the owner’s consent, but I have been in touch with the province and it is not an issue.”
According to the letter, Mann has obtained several quotes from different contractors regarding the demolition, but they were not provided as part of the correspondence, though the court order to restore the company was.
“If the city carries out the demolition and the cleanup work and then takes steps to recover the expense from Mr. Mann, or sells the property and deducts the expense from the proceeds of the sale, Mr. Mann will hold the city liable to him for the difference between the amount recovered and his own costs of demolition,” stated Reif.
Mayor Dave Formosa described the threat as “a little lame” at the meeting, and asked city staff if the city’s lawyers were looking at it.
City chief administrative officer Mac Fraser said the city’s lawyers were examining the issue, but city staff would be going forward to have quotes prepared in the meantime.
Formosa said, despite a fence around the property, local squatters have continued to use the house, which poses a risk to public safety.
Councillor CaroleAnn Leishman told council that Mann would not be granted a demolition permit from city staff if he was planning to take the house down without professional help.
“He needs to follow the proper procedures of getting a permit and hiring a contractor,” said Leishman. “For him to ask for an extension of time so he can take it down himself is not safe.”
Fraser told council he did not think there would be much difference between what the demolition would cost the city to hire a contractor versus what it would cost Mann to hire a contractor.
“The expense will be the same whether Mr. Mann does it the right way or we do it the right way,” said Fraser. “Mr. Mann will ultimately pay the bill. We will not have the administrative cost of staff added on to the bill. We’re talking about that same bottom line; it’s just who is going to execute the demolition.”
According to Reif’s letter, Mann paid more than $14,000 in back property taxes last September to avoid the city selling the property as part of its tax sale.
