THE City of North Vancouver has launched another lawsuit against a building owner, saying he illegally converted a duplex into a fiveplex in contravention of the city's construction regulations and zoning bylaw.
The result is a building with five apartments that do not meet safety standards and may pose a hazard to people living there, the city said in court documents.
The municipality has asked the judge for an order forcing the owner to remove three illegal living units in 14 days. Alternatively, the city has asked that city crews be allowed to go in and remove the units at the owner's expense.
So far, the owner of the building at 227 and 229 East Fourth Street hasn't filed a response in court.
According to documents filed by the municipality in B.C. Supreme Court Jan. 19, Nicholai Chemlev of Vancouver bought the property in February 2010. Before completing the deal, he went to the city and was informed about the current zoning that allows for duplexes. The municipality says Chemlev was also told that any additional units would require a rezoning.
In May 2010, the city started receiving complaints from neighbours about renovations taking place in the building. City staff visited and saw "substantial" work being done without any proper permits, according to court documents. The municipality issued a stop work order May 13.
The next month, Chemlev contacted city staff and asked for permission to cover the exterior of the building with building paper to shield it from the weather, which they granted. He also submitted an application for a building permit, but the city rejected that on the grounds the lot coverage, gross floor area, building height and rear setback would all violate municipal regulations.
In July, the municipality got further complaints about construction at the site. Over the next several months, staff visited the site and discovered a previously open carport had been completely enclosed and windows added, according to the lawsuit.
When the city contacted Chemlev, he wrote back saying the work included emergency repairs to fix a leak in the basement and provide a storage area for the building. He said in the letter he'd been told work like roofing, siding and emergency repairs didn't require permits.
Further stop work orders were posted at the site, but they were allegedly taken down.
That pattern continued for the first six months of 2011, until June, when the municipality finally approved legal action against the owner.
By then, however, the building had already been converted into a fiveplex, according to the documents.
In addition to flouting the zoning bylaw, the building was not fully sprinklered, which is required of all buildings with more than four units. Electrical work in the building also does not meet B.C. Electrical Code standards, according to city inspectors.
One inspector noted in an affidavit that he had to turn off the gas range in one of the basement units because it was in an unsafe condition.
The court action comes less than a month after the city filed papers against the owner of another apartment building to bring four long-standing illegal suites into compliance.
The dispute about illegal suites in that building at 200 East 12th Street goes back more than three decades.
