Castlegar wins Supreme Court case over City Centre Motel
By Kyra Hoggan
The Supreme Court of B.C. has found in favour of the City of Castlegar after owners of the City Centre Motel downtown requested a judicial review of city council’s decision to order the structure demolished.
In the judgment, rendered Nov. 19, the Honourable Madam Justice Lynn Smith said, “I do not find the City to have been unreasonable in reaching the decision that it did.” Smith said she considered allegations that city officials, specifically mayor Lawrence Chernoff, were biased and had thus denied the owners due process, and that the city was operating outside its jurisdiction. “I conclude that the petitioners have not established bias or a reasonable apprehension of bias,” she wrote, then later in the judgment said, “I find that Castlegar City Council correctly construed its jurisdiction and acted within jurisdiction.” The judgment in its entirety can be read by clicking here. The court case stemmed from a council resolution Feb. 15 demanding remedial action at the site, to be undertaken either by the owners, or by the city at the owners’ expense. Owners Basil and Susan McLaren declined to take such action and filed for a judicial review with the Supreme Court. Mayor Lawrence Chernoff said he’s pleased with the decision, and hopes demolition work can begin rapidly, assuming no appellate actions are launched. “We’re in discussions with demolition contractors now. “I think it’s great,” he said. “The city waited a long time for this, to finally get this cleaned up, for the benefit of the whole community.” Indeed, the City Centre Motel story has been unfolding for at least a year now. City officials obtained a warrant to inspect the site on Jan. 29, and the warrant was executed on Feb. 1. The court saw a memo by Fire Chief Gerry Rempel to city director of development services Phil Markin subsequent to the inspection, which read, in part, “With regards to the above referenced property, an inspection was carried out this morning as per our Entry Warrant obtained 29 Jan 10,” Rempel wrote. “We attended the property on three occasions in 2009. On every occasion the buildings were not secured and were in a state of disrepair. I took photos during our last visit of 29 October 2009 which are attached in this package. One renter, Mr. Salekin, stated he attempts to ‘keep an eye’ on the facility and closes all doors he finds to be open. “It is my understanding there are two residents renting/living in the property, however there are no water services. The electrical system is suspect and the structural integrity of at least one of the structures, the former office, has been compromised thereby creating a dangerous situation for whomever may enter the property, whether it be children, transients or firefighters. Evidence also shows these buildings are being used by transients as well. “The City has dealt with this property in the past through bylaw with the owner correcting the problem at the time, however, the property has then been allowed to return to the state it was in prior to the enforcement action being taken. “The property, an operational motel, is in contravention of not only our Unsightly Premise Bylaw, but also the Fire Protection and Safety of Persons and Property Bylaw 907 and the BC Fire Code. Although both our bylaw and BC Fire Code addresses the security, etc. of vacant buildings, not all the buildings are actually vacant. “The Fire Code and Fire Protection Bylaw infractions are only a part of the greater number of issues with this property.”
Comments