Fire-damaged commercial bays on 100th Street have been spared from the wrecking ball.
Owners of the property at 2112 - 100th St. were finally successful with their appeal of a demolition order on the property issued in October. North Battleford city councillors voted at Monday's meeting to allow the appeal after owners met a council imposed Nov. 25 deadline to pay up all tax arrears on the property.
The outstanding tax arrears, totaling around $27,000, had been the major reason council refused to lift the demolition order at their previous council meeting Nov. 14, when a delegation of owners of the property went before council to ask for more time to make repairs to the property. It is usually the case for council to turns down demolition order appeals unless tax arrears are paid up.
Council did allow the owners one last chance to pay the tax arrears, setting the Nov. 25 deadline. Had it not been met, council was ready to proceed with demolishing the 100 property damaged by a blaze in June of this year.
Now, the demolition order is lifted and the owners are getting the green light to proceed with renovation plans, outlined in a Nov. 24 letter from Haroon Khatri.
Their plan includes immediate cleanup of the fire-damaged material, with replacement of doors and windows as well as exterior painting by spring 2012. Interior structure, electrical, plumbing and heating are to be repaired by June 2012 and the owners pledge to keep the building secured at all times.
There was some grumbling from council about the timeline. Councillor Don Buglas said council had wanted a much quicker timeframe than what was proposed. However, city building inspector Jerry Wintonyk noted the painting couldn't be done until spring in any event. As well, it is possible for some items, such as windows, to be in place before the spring.
Despite some reservations, council allowed the appeal. Councillor Brad Pattinson said the owners were "showing good intent" in paying the taxes and should be given a chance to repair the building.
"They did what we asked," he said.
