Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The owner of the former Bayview Estates project in Niven Lake says he isn't going to let the City of Yellowknife expropriate a portion of the land without a fight.

Mike Mrdjenovich: Developer says he is going to fight the city.

"I'm going to fight them every minute," said Mike Mrdjenovich, the owner of Edmonton-based Nova Builders Inc., which owns the land. "I paid money for (the land) and if they want it, they can buy it back off of me."

"They're not going to expropriate that easy without a fight."

When asked whether this challenge would involve legal action, Mrdjenovich replied, "we got no choice, do we?" Mrdjenovich said he is planning on building on the land.

Mayor Gord Van Tighem confirmed the city is planning to expropriate a 900 square-metre corridor of land on the property as a utility easement, so that it can access the water and sewer pipeline underneath for the nearby Niven Lake Phase VII residential development. Van Tighem explained that the easement was at one point a part of the land title agreed to by the original landowners. But when Nova Builders took over the property in December 2009, the agreement to use the property couldn't be found in the land title office. Bayview's former owner, Bond Street Properties, went broke before it could complete its condominium project there, and so construction there was abandoned.

Van Tighem said this would be the first time in his 11 years as mayor that the city expropriated land. "It's not common that it occurs," he said. "Usually these things are worked out amicably between people."

The bylaw containing the city's notice of intention to expropriate the corridor of land passed first, second and third readings in council on May 9. According to the GNWT Expropriation Act, if one or more written objections are received within 30 days of the notice being published in the NWT Gazette on July 1, a public hearing to discuss objections must be ordered. The act stipulates the city would be required to offer compensation for the land.

Van Tighem said the 30-day window is also an opportunity to maintain an open invitation to Nova Builders to try to reach an agreement.

Nova Builders purchased the property with the plan of building 30 condominiums for a listed price of $5.6 million. The value of the stretch of land at issue wasn't known by press time.

But this is not the first time Mrdjenovich has been at odds with the city. The city took Nova Builders to court over a two-metre high fence around the former Bartam Trailer Park on School Draw Avenue, allegedly built without a development permit. The charges were stayed in May. The fence remained in place after the city's development appeal board ruled in Nova Builder's favour last August.

More recently, the city took Nova Builders to court again over allegedly allowing tenants in the Nova Plaza building to occupy a part of the building before an occupancy permit was obtained. This January, Judge Christine Gagnon ruled in favour of Nova Builders, saying the company wasn't legally responsible for the occupancy.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.