Port Alberni city council has said "no" to the Port Pub owners' request for a demolition delay.
Micah Goldberg, legal counsel for the owners of the Port Pub (Peter Wang and Ding Mi), asked city council during a special meeting on Monday, July 29 to delay their demolition order by two months so that the owners can demonstrate their "good faith efforts" to remediate the property.
Council issued a remedial action order back in January of this year, giving the owners 30 days to clean up their property on Argyle Street, which includes 28 no-barrier rental suites. After a missed deadline, city staff looked into the building and discovered airborne asbestos, which meant that the building had to be evacuated and put under a fire order.
Goldberg explained on Monday that the owners of the building had been the target of an alleged fraud (still before the courts), which is why they were not able to respond to the initial remedial action order back in January. He said that the owners are now prepared to spend the money to remediate the property so that it can be used to house Port Alberni's marginalized population.
“It makes more sense from an economical perspective for my client to maintain the property as it exists, rather than to demolish it,” he said.
Goldberg also claimed that the property owners have retained an environmental consultant to assist with remediation and have entered into a contract with a security agency to watch over the property and ensure that the fire order is complied with.
However, city councillors were not convinced by the presentation. Councillor Cindy Solda said that she has "lost faith" in seeing the Port Pub remediated after so many years of “deplorable" conditions.
Mayor Sharie Minions said it was "unfortunate" to lose any housing, but agreed that she didn't want to see the demolition order delayed.
“I haven’t seen anything or heard anything here today that gives me confidence that we’re going to be in any different position two months from now,” she added.
Councillor Debbie Haggard acknowledged that the owners have had some difficulties accessing their property over the past few months.
“But I don’t feel that’s an excuse to let the property deteriorate as badly as it has, and to become in such a state that tenants had to be evicted for safety and health reasons,” she added. She pointed out that this is the second time that the Port Pub has been issued a remedial action order — the first one was in 2020.
“What assurances are we going to have that we’re not going to be back here next council term saying the same things again?" she asked.
Councillor Dustin Dame wondered why the city hadn't been paid back yet for all the outstanding fines and costs related to the Port Pub. City staff estimated that funds owed to the city total almost $300,000.
“Without that, these are promises that we don’t have a whole lot to substantiate,” said Dame.
Council ultimately voted to confirm the demolition order. If the owners do not demolish the building, the city will take on the work and the land will go up for tax sale. Haggard was the only councillor who voted against the decision, only because she said she does not want to see the city lose any of its housing stock.