Cut trees upset Bartesko Court neighbours
Property owner had threatened to build parking lot if development denied, which it subsequently was by the city
Shane Magee
Northern News Services
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Residents who live next to a Range Lake neighbourhood property owned by TC Enterprises that's been the subject of several unsuccessful development attempts say they're shocked to see almost all of the trees on the property have been cut down.
Frank Davignon stands along his property's fence line where most of the trees on a property owned by TC Enterprises have been cut down. - Shane Magee/NNSL photo |
Frank Davignon estimates about 90 per cent of the trees and brush along his fence line had been felled.
The chainsaws started Saturday morning. The rocky, thinly treed lot once gave Davignon's Foreman Court backyard added privacy and reduced noise.
He suspects it might be a reaction by TC Enterprises, which owns the lot and includes 1 Bartesko Ct. Co-president Tony Chang had threatened to cut the trees down last year if a proposed development wasn't approved. It wasn't.
"He's basically just pissing us off - it's retaliation," he told Yellowknifer on Monday. "Why would you cut down grown-up trees?"
It's unclear why the trees were cut down. Calls and an e-mail to TC Enterprises were not returned by press time.
The property has been the subject of at least four development attempts since it was purchased by TC Enterprises in the late 1990s. A 36-unit apartment building is on the same lot, which was built in 2003. About 15 years ago a density cap was placed on the area, allowing only 36 units on the 1.2 hectare lot.
During a public meeting at city hall in 2014 about his pitch to build a four-storey, 48-unit apartment building on the lot, Chang threatened to go ahead with some form of development if the cap wasn't increased.
"We're going to fence it, cut the trees down and make a parking lot for the tenants. That's what it'll become, it'll be a parking lot, with storage and everything for the residents of the building right now," Chang was quoted by Yellowknifer as saying at the time.
"The whole thing is going to be boxed in and we'll make a storage area out of it, so they can have that, or they can have a building. Whichever one, it doesn't matter to me."
The company returned to council last year with a scaled down development idea. Residents of the area including Davignon signed a petition against the proposed 24-unit, two-storey townhouse complex.
Davignon acknowledged that the owner made attempts to meet the concerns of neighbours but he remained against the development.
Council voted down the idea in March.
Chris Johnston, another Foreman Court resident, said neighbours are upset but he has to give kudos to Chang for following his word.
Davignon would like to see the trees replaced. He's contacted the mayor's office to see if the property owner has done something wrong and whether the city can force remedial action. The city declined to comment Monday.
