After six years, the City of North Vancouver opted to give one unco-operative property owner 60 days to perform an approximately $70,000 upgrade on their fire alarm system or face legal action at a council meeting Monday.
Of the city’s 301 wood-frame residential buildings built before 1992, 300 were either brought up to code, are in the process of being brought up to code, or were redeveloped since the city decided on mandatory alarm systems connected to the fire department in 2011. The city set New Year’s Day 2016 as the deadline for the upgrade.
However, Confide Enterprises, owner of the 35-unit building at 144 West 21st St., has “defied all attempts” at upgrading despite five fines totalling $2,250, 12 letters, two inspections, three discussions, three phone messages and one email urging compliance since 2011.
The owner paid two of the fines, totalling $900, and briefly appeared to be on the brink of abiding with city regulations in June 2017, but the owner “let this momentum lapse,” according to the staff report.
Given that lapse, city council unanimously declared the building to be in “hazardous condition” due to the risks stemming from a delay in alerting the fire department. The city also slapped a remedial action order on the property owners, which is intended to force the owners to pay any cost borne by the city in the upgrade.
If the owner fails to abide by the city’s order, city staff may seek a court injunction, according to a city staff report.
The owner has 60 days to move forward with the upgrade. If they remain obdurate, the city can hire contractors to do the work.
The upgrade costs about $2,000 per suite, estimated city spokeswoman Connie Rabold.
“It’s unfortunate that it’s come to this,” reflected Coun. Linda Buchanan at Monday’s meeting. “Some of these buildings are certainly coming to the very end of their life and if they don’t have those safety measures in place, they can be catastrophic.”
In stressing the importance of the upgrade, the city’s assistant fire chief in charge of prevention, David Owens, cited several fires in which the damage was limited and some cases where lives were saved because a fire alarm system was activated.
Owens also referenced a 2014 fire caused by intoxicated residents leaving a pot on a hot stove and falling asleep. Neighbours heard the smoke alarm, which, Owens pointed out, wasn’t connected to the city’s monitoring service. The residents didn’t wake up until firefighters arrived.
If the alarm had been upgraded, the fire department “would have likely been on scene much sooner,” according to Owens.
“Staff went overboard in terms of trying to be accommodating,” said Coun. Don Bell. “It’s time to get firm.”
Staff is authorized “to take all appropriate steps” to bring the property into compliance.
