Greg Littlefair, second from right, the managing partner of Granite Ventures, speaks during a special council meeting Dec. 7 to hear his company's appeal of a city order regarding the occupancy of its new condo building at 5604 50 Ave. At the far left of the table is his lawyer Glen Rutland, Alyssa Holland and on his right is Darrell Viske with PSAV Architects. - Shane Magee/NNSL photo |
Granite Ventures mulls legal options
Director disappointed after council opts to take no action on development orders appealed by his company
Shane Magee
Northern News Services
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
One of the directors of Granite Ventures says the company is mulling over taking the city to court after council opted to take no action on an appeal of two development orders issued last year.
"Obviously I'm very disappointed with it," Greg Littlefair said Monday. The company is still examining the ruling issued Thursday, Littlefair said.
Littlefair, Alex Arychuk and Coun. Niels Konge are the owners of the company that developed the four-storey, 24-unit building at 5604 Franklin Ave. Konge was not involved in the decision.
The ruling in part denied the company $160,000 it was seeking for costs incurred related to the orders.
Residents started moving into Granite's building before the exterior cladding was completely installed last fall. After a fire destroyed a vacant house next door Nov. 7, the city's fire chief raised alarms about having people in the building.
It led to city staff issuing two development orders.
The first order, which would have forced residents to vacate the building until cladding was installed, was rescinded. The second, called a fire-watch order, required the company to have someone on-site to monitor for potential fires. The company paid to expedite the installation of the cladding, which was finished in
early December.
The company's appeal of the two orders resulted in a Dec. 7 hearing at city hall. At the hearing, city staff spoke about why they issued the orders while Granite and its lawyer argued the city was unfair in how it handled the issue.
City council oversaw the hearing acting as a panel of judges.
The written ruling on the appeal of the orders, released late Thursday afternoon, states that because both orders were no longer in effect when the hearing took place, council had nothing to rule on.
Littlefair didn't rule out further legal action.
"That's still a possibility," he said.
Councillors rejected the company's request to be reimbursed for costs incurred dealing with the orders.
The ruling states the bylaws have no provisions to deal with payouts on appeals.
City councillors asked about the issue Monday were hesitant to talk about the ruling given potential legal action.
"I think the ruling will speak for itself," said Coun. Shauna Morgan.
Coun. Julian Morse, who didn't want to address the ruling, said the hearing did raise issues that he believes should be addressed, such as council's authority to hear such an appeal and whether it can decide on issues of costs. He said there are discussions taking place.
Konge declined comment on the ruling.
