City issues ultimatum on Brown Block

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/07/2011 (5278 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After more than four months of waiting for progress on the clean-up of the 100-block of 10th Street, Brandon city hall has issued an ultimatum to the owners of the collapsed Brown Block — demolish your property now or we’ll do it ourselves and send you the bill.

A portion of the vacant property in the 100-block of 10th Street collapsed in the early morning hours on March 15, with the street closed to traffic ever since.

Over the past four months, the cleanup of the property and the re-opening of the street has been mired in a number of issues, ranging from the delicate stabilization of the common wall the Brown Block shares with the Strand Theatre building to the scheduling and reporting difficulties associated with the fact that both property’s owners are not based in Brandon.

While the demolition permit for the Brown Block was issued by the city a number of weeks ago, substantial work to remove the building has not yet started. That has forced city staff to take matters into their own hands, beginning at the end of business day today.

"If there is no progress toward that by Wednesday, our intention is to be ready with an order to maintain their facility," Brandon’s manager of development services Ted Snure said Monday night. "Although they would be in violation of the demolition permit … we would follow that due process under the (property standards and building safety) bylaw that would bring some closure and also give us an option to step in and try and get something happening as well."

Under an "emergency" order to maintain, the city can immediately go into a property and have it cleaned up, with the subsequent costs being added to taxes.

However, in this specific case, Snure said the city would be retaining an engineer to prepare a demolition plan and proceed with demolition, with the property owner billed after the fact.

At issue, according to Snure, is the fact that a clause within the demolition permit issued to the Brown Block’s engineering firm required that work needed to start within four business days of receipt of a letter from the owners of the Strand building verifying its safety.

City officials received that letter on July 13, meaning today is the last of the four-workday window for demolition to start. If work does begin today, full completion must occur within 60 business days.

Majority shareholder of the Brown Block property is Winnipeg-based Noniko Investments, which is headed up by former Brandon business owner Jon Hooker and his father, Richard Hooker.

However, negotiating on Noniko’s behalf over the past number of months has been Winnipeg’s Sussex Realty, the building’s property management group.

Spokesperson Curtis Shewchuk declined comment on the city’s threat yesterday until he had a chance to discuss it with both the building’s ownership group and legal counsel.

"I hope we’ll make progress, but I’m not going to try this out in the media," he told the Sun yesterday morning.

Yet, by late afternoon, city manager Scott Hildebrand reported to the Sun that Shewchuk had emailed him an update to suggest that they’ve "commenced demolition" and a timeline for completion "would be provided."

As of early yesterday evening, no demolition crews could be seen on-site at the Brown Block property.

However, unless a demolition timeline is received by the end of business day today and tangible work is seen on the building, Hildebrand stressed they will still undertake the order to maintain.

"In my mind, there needs to be progress and a timeline," he said.

At Monday night’s meeting, councillors had their first chance to react to the situation in a month. When council last met in June, they were told that the parties had met and that demolition would start any day.

The continued delays clearly didn’t sit well with them, with many plainly stating at Monday’s council meeting they are disgusted that the unnecessary delays have turned council into a laughing stock.

"The ides of March were four months ago," Coun. Jim McCrae (Meadows) said in reference to the March collapse date. "The people of this town, our city, are past frustration and anger. They’re down at the point where there’s downright derision about how are we handling this event.

"The people of Brandon are laughing at us. They don’t care about party walls and all this gobbledygook. It’s what it is if you’re an ordinary person driving down the street. You see a closed street and a building that’s suitable for something in 1945 in certain parts of Europe," he said.

"When you really come down to it … this has just been ignorance of this landlord that has created a major problem for our residents, our visitors to the community," Coun. Murray Blight (Victoria) added.

"I’ve had citizens laughing at council and I don’t appreciate to be laughed at, or my colleagues to be laughed at, that we’re not doing anything. This (owner) needs to bite the bullet and move on with the show."

Linden Lanes Coun. Shawn Berry, meantime, said the city has played "nice" long enough and wholeheartedly supported the city’s proposed move to speed demolition along.

"This has been an inconvenience enough for the businesses downtown and the people, not to mention the safety factor for four months," he said. "This is way, way too long. It is time to not be nice anymore and get it done."

In commenting on the situation, Mayor Shari Decter Hirst and Rosser ward Coun. Corey Roberts both defended the work done by both the Strand building’s owners, Calgary-based Landmark Cinemas, and Renaissance Brandon to ensure the theatre remains viable for its proposed redevelopment by the Brandon Folk, Music and Arts Society into a multi-use community performance space.

The breakdown, they suggested, has been with the Brown Block owners.

"We have worked and tried to be a strong partner in this process going forward … that spirit of partnership, frankly, I feel has been abused," Decter Hirst said.

"The disrespect that has been shown to this council is a disrespect to the residents of the city. As their representatives, we are calling them to account."

"Trust has been lost from certain individuals here," Roberts added. "It’s time for a new process that we control."