Subdivision snafu lands La Broquerie in court
Advertisement
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/07/2018 (2117 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A La Broquerie couple overseeing the development of a subdivision has launched a lawsuit against the municipality, claiming its engineer and administrative staff strung them along by imposing unreasonable requirements and withholding a completion certificate.
According to a statement of claim filed June 7 in a Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench, plaintiffs Garry and Violet Brown are seeking unspecified damages to recoup lost profits caused by a 20-month delay in selling nine lots in their rural residential subdivision along Pleasant Pine Place on the municipality’s western edge.
The Browns also hope to acquire a completion certificate by October, recoup extra construction and engineering costs, and obtain an injunction to prohibit the municipality from making a legal claim against the $133,500 security it holds.
The couple alleges La Broquerie’s engineer, and later municipal staff, mislead them during the planning and certificate stages, first reneging on an initial approval of elevation schematics, then backtracking on a final inspection clearance.
Furthermore, the additional steps imposed by the municipality exceed the scope of the development agreement, the Browns claim.
The Phase 2 lots could have been sold in late 2016 had the municipality kept its word, the Browns argue, calling the municipality’s conduct “high-handed and arbitrary.”
The allegations have not been tested in court.
The six lots comprising Phase 1 of the subdivision were completed and sold before the dispute arose.
A development agreement stipulated the municipality would issue a completion certificate once road, drainage, and sewer work was satisfactorily completed, and could draw on the security if the Browns failed to uphold their obligations.
Through a lawyer, the municipality warned as recently as June 5 it may start drawing on the Brown’s security if its requirements aren’t met, the statement of claim said.