Skip to content

Falcon Ridge apartment a no go

The developers of a controversial apartment complex in Falcon Ridge will have to find something else to build in that spot.
p4falconridge

The developers of a controversial apartment complex in Falcon Ridge will have to find something else to build in that spot.

A Yukon Supreme Court judge ruled this week that the partially built building cannot stay the way it is.

Justice Ron Veale did not go as far as ordering the demolition of the building. Instead, he gave the developer 90 days to come up with a plan to put four-plexes or single family units on the land.

If that deadline is not met, the condo board can apply to have the shell of the building torn down.

Last year the Falcon Ridge condo board took the developer to court, arguing that an apartment building would hurt the character of the community and they hadn’t been properly consulted.

Construction of the apartment building was halted last winter. The judge ruled the developer, a numbered company run by Brian Little, did not obtain the appropriate consents from the other owners.

The case was back before Veale late last year when the developer proposed building an 18-unit structure instead of the 24-unit building originally planned.

The developer said he has already spent $1 million on the development of the land for the apartment building and it would be expensive to tear down the existing shell.

In his latest decision released this week, Veale found the original 2005 declaration and plan did not indicate any planned multi-family apartment buildings of any size, even though the developer did have those construction plans.

Veale is quick to say that leaving the partially constructed building as it is isn’t in the best interest of anyone.

“Rather, the question is whether the condo developer’s proposal of 18 stacked units and five single units is just and equitable or whether some other alternative is more reasonable,” he said.

Clearly both the developer and the condo corporation expected something to be built on the land in question, Veale said. There is no evidence that anyone expected it to remain green space.

“The unit owners must have reasonably expected some new units consistent with the concept of Falcon Ridge,” he said.

“However, it was not in the reasonable contemplation of the unit owners that there would be large apartment buildings with stacked condominium apartment units.”

Veale ruled that an apartment building - even a smaller one - would not be appropriate beside the current homes.

“The present proposal of the condo developer for 18 stacked units in one building would change the character of Falcon Ridge significantly from its present composition of single family units,” he said.

He ruled it would be “just and equitable” for the developer to build four-plex units or some combination for four-plexes and single family homes.

As for what that would look like, the judge ruled there was not enough information in front of him to make a specific order.

He gave the developer 90 days to come up with a plan.

Contact Ashley Joannou at

ashleyj@yukon-news.com