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Mud fight

Homeowner wants bylaw to stop developers from making a mess

Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (July 10/02) - A Yellowknife homeowner says when he went to authorities to stop a neighbouring developer from splattering mud on his house there was no one to turn to.

Les Rohac and his family have lived in their 54th Avenue home for eight years, and have never experienced a problem until two weeks ago when Bernie's Limited began putting in a foundation for a duplex being built next door.

No sooner had the work begun on June 28, says Rohac, that the mud began to fly, as a result of high pressure drilling into the ground.

In a few days it was all over the side of the house, windows, deck, fence, and yard.

Rohac eventually got a hold of someone associated with the project, and he was told that his property would be cleaned up once the drilling was complete.

"They told me they would come and clean up after they're done drilling, but this is not the issue," says Rohac. "They should be preventing that."

Rohac went to the RCMP with his complaint but was told it was out of their jurisdiction. His next stop took him to the City of Yellowknife.

After six phone calls, however, Rohac says his complaint has yet to be addressed.

The one time he did receive a phone call from the city's municipal enforcement office, it was to tell him his case had been transferred to bylaw's public safety division.

Rohac says he hasn't heard back from them either.

"He (Doug Gillard, manager of municipal enforcement) was going to check his book and see if he could do something about it," says Rohac. "But he never called back."

Nothing on the books

City Coun. David McCann did speak with Rohac, and says he is surprised the city couldn't do more for him.

He checked with bylaw and found that there is nothing on the books to prevent developers from damaging next door properties, even if the project is ongoing.

"There should be due precaution in projects of this nature," says McCann. "I'm surprised they can't apply some plywood sheeting or something."

Gillard confirmed there was little the city could do to prevent the developers next door from splattering mud onto Rohac's property.

He called it a "civil matter," something Rohac may wish to pursue in court.

He said there are regulations that may come into play if a developer damaged city property, but they don't affect private property.

As for the missed phone calls...

"I never did call him because it was transferred to another department," says Gillard.

Randy Jacobs, the acting manager of inspections, was the first person to speak with Rohac. He said not only does the city have no bylaw to deal with foreign materials entering private property, but the permits the city issues to developers contain no stipulations about it either.

"The building permit doesn't say 'thou shall not produce a certain amount of dust,'" says Jacobs.

A big misunderstanding

For his part, Bernie Kapalka, owner of Bernie's Limited, says it is all a big misunderstanding.

Rohac originally thought Nova Construction was the company drilling the lot not Bernie's Limited.

Although Kapalka didn't speak with Rohac until last Thursday, he says they did attempt put plastic sheeting over his house but Rohac refused to answer the door.

"We tried to go over there and put plastic on his house, but he wouldn't let us by the dogs," says Kapalka. "He wouldn't even let us come to the house."

Kapalka says it is often a difficult task to prevent some material from spraying nearby homes when they are drilling, but rarely has he had problems with other home owners.

He also says they still intend to clean up the property when they are finished.

Rohac disputes Kapalka's claim. He says he has one dog that's kept mainly in the house, and did not see any workers come by to put up plastic.

Regardless, Rohac still doesn't understand why the city doesn't put the onus on developers to keep neighbouring properties -- similar to creating a noise bylaw -- from making a mess of other people's property.

"What would happen if they did this next to City Hall?" Rohac fumes.

"They'd be jumping up and down."