The board of a long-embattled condo development in Whitehorse has filed more than $1 million worth of liens on the unfinished property.
The Falcon Ridge condo board says neglect of the land in question, after years of being the focus of court battles, has left it unsafe.
They say the developer told them he doesn’t have the money to complete any more work.
The developer has not filed a statement of defence. A call to his lawyer was not returned in time for today’s paper.
The board wants the Supreme Court of Yukon to allow it to step in and fix the problems and then recoup what it’s owed.
In January 2013, a Supreme Court judge halted the construction of an apartment building there because the developer, a numbered company owned by Brian Little, didn’t have the authority to put the building there.
More than a year later, in April 2014, a plan was approved to clean up the piece of bare land and to build smaller homes that would more closely resemble the nearby condos.
But as of today, the shell of the apartment building still stands.
The 2014 court order required the developer to fix drainage issues and other concerns related to the slope of the land.
According to the lawsuit, Little’s earlier work to start the apartment “created a steep, unsupported embankment underneath Falcon Drive, which is a well-travelled roadway in the City of Whitehorse.”
The area has continued to erode while no work was being done and now presents a danger, the lawsuit says.
The developer also hasn’t done anything to advance construction on the shell of a building, court documents say. The structure “has deteriorated as a result of neglect and exposure to the elements to a point where it now presents a hazard.”
Underground electrical wires and towers also remain on the property, even though there has been no progress on the building those wires were supposed to serve.
The lawsuit also mentions a pit that has been dug next to the shell of a building. It was supposed to be for a second building that hasn’t been started.
The timeline to get all this work cleaned up has been extended multiple times, the condo board claims. The latest deadline was Oct. 31, 2015.
Last week, the board was told by the developer that its “financier has decided not to continue to finance the development and is unable to complete any further work,” including constructing the units permitted by the court, the court documents say.
That has left the board in a position where it has to ask the court for help.
It has placed a $21,000 lien for unpaid condo fees and a second one for $1 million for the repair work that needs to be done, board president Helen Booth said.
The owners in the development have seen the value of their units go down and their ability to enjoy the property has been diminished because the work has not been finished, the lawsuit says. The board says it has to step in to stop any more damage from happening.
A case management conference is scheduled for Nov. 10.
Contact Ashley Joannou at
ashleyj@yukon-news.com