The fire is extinguished but neighbours still fuming
Residents forced from their homes say city should have done more about vacant house
KITCHENER — Carl Visutski trembles at the sight of his fire-damaged home, mad that the City of Kitchener didn’t do more to protect him.
He was forced to flee June 13 when the house next door at 66 West Ave. burned down, ferociously and suspiciously at 8:40 a.m. Police are investigating the blaze, its cause still undetermined.
The house had been vacant longer than a year when a renovation stalled. Residents complained to the city that it was a mess and a menace that might be attracting vagrants.
“I always said, sooner or later something will happen, and look, it did,” said Visutski, a machinist who recalls complaining to the city.
“Something should have been done,” he said. “Either you’re going to fix it or you rip it down, whatever, do something. You’re not going to just let it sit like this, not forever.”
When the house burned, flames, heat and water damaged both houses next door to it. Four neighbours fled into the street.
Yok Leu carried his 95-year-old mother to safety from his house next door. Flames ignited his roof. He’s rattled now by the sound of fire trucks.
“When you sleep, you’re always thinking about a fire, how much time you have to get out of the house,”
he said.
“Fire is in your mind,” said his wife, Elizabeth Vogel, who also fled. The retired couple has been forced into an apartment while waiting for repairs that may take months.
Restoration crews gutted Visutski’s house after the fire melted his roof. He expects to wait months to return home.
“My whole life is in turmoil here. I like to barbecue in the summertime, and have friends and family over, and all of that is gone,” he said.
His emotions rise as he points to rubble still piled beside his damaged house.
“This piece of crap is still sitting here. If you walk here you’ll smell that,” he said. “I’m sick of it. Are they going to wait a goddamned year again, the city, to clean this up or what?
“I want to go home. That’s all I want. I want to go home.”
Across the central neighbourhood, residents argue city government is partly to blame for not doing more to deal with the vacant house.
“It should have been boarded up at least,” Vogel said. “There should be a time limit, how long they’re supposed to stay like that.”
The house burned down 83 days after one resident warned the city that it was a safety concern.
“There was a lot of concern around the area as it had pretty much been abandoned after the owner stopped working on it,” said John Kieswetter, a security guard who lives across the street.
Coun. Paul Singh argues the city can respond better to troubled properties after strengthening its bylaw June 26, two weeks after the fire. “Staff can issue an order to demolish a building, especially if it is a troubled property,” he said.
Residents are “probably basing their opinion on what the bylaw was before,” Singh said. “Our bylaw staff have at their discretion far more tools available in dealing with vacant properties than they did before … I think we’re miles ahead from where we were before.”
The Record filed a Freedom-of-Information request about 66 West Ave. to learn that the public formally complained about the vacant house up to five times between April 2016 and March 2017.
City hall logged complaints about construction without a permit, overgrown grass and weeds, a debrisfilled yard, a stalled renovation, and squatters and safety concerns.
The city sent someone to visit the vacant house at least 11 times. The government issued two orders that were disregarded by the owners, to cut the tall grass and to secure a building permit, documents reveal.
At times the city struggled to reach the owners. At times the city intervened directly, cutting the grass and using wood at the scene to block a patio door left open.
Waterloo Regional Police are investigating, waiting for test results from a forensic laboratory to shed light on how the fire started. It is deemed suspicious.
Documents reveal that a renovation stalled there after a couple, Jeff and Amanda Waters, purchased the property for $160,000 in December 2015. The couple could not be reached this week. Jeff Waters declined to comment shortly after the fire.
It bothers neighbours that they’re still seeing and smelling rubble, six weeks later. They say scavengers have been jumping the wire fence placed around the debris.
The city can’t say when the rubble will be removed. Officials wants to see a grading plan, to ensure the cleared site doesn’t become a swamp, a hole or a mountain of dirt, before the city issues a demolition permit to clear rubble.
“We will issue the demolition permit as soon as we can,” said Mike Seiling, the city’s director of building. He “clearly appreciates and understands” that neighbours are concerned.
The city ordered the owners to secure a demolition permit by July 21. An application for a demolition permit was made July 12 but the city has yet to approve it.
TIMELINE OF A TROUBLED HOUSE
Dec. 8, 2015: 66 West Ave. purchased for $160,000. Nobody moves in. Renovations, start, later valued at $50,000.
April 27, 2016: Acting on a complaint, the City of Kitchener visits the house to confirm that construction began unlawfully without a building permit. The interior has been gutted, beams and supporting posts replaced, plumbing, heating and electrical removed, two dormers replaced. The owners agree to stop construction and apply for a permit. June 8, 2016: The city receives a complaint. It reads: “grass and weeds are overgrown, there is renovations being done in the house and there is a lot of junk in the yard, caller is doubtful that there are any permits for renovations.”
June 16, 2016: The city visits the vacant house to find overgrown grass and weeds.
June 20: The city orders the owner to cut the grass and weeds to below eight inches, warning that the city may do the job and add the cost to property taxes.
June 21, 2016: The city visits the vacant house, finding no further construction.
July 4, 2016: The city visits the vacant house, finding no further activity. The owner has not returned calls.
Aug. 5, 2016: The city visits the vacant house to find overgrown grass and weeds.
Aug. 15, 2016: The city sends a crew to the vacant house to cut the grass and weeds.
Sept. 6, 2016: An applicant visits city hall to discuss a building permit to resume renovations at the vacant house. Sept. 12, 2016: The city receives an application for a
building permit. It cites renovations valued at $50,000.
Sept. 28, 2016: The city stalls a building permit, citing deficiencies in the application involving weight-bearing walls, headroom above the stairs, windows and floor joists. The applicant is asked to submit more information.
Oct. 5, 2016: Coun. Frank Etherington receives a complaint about debris. He passes the complaint on to bylaw enforcement.
Oct. 25, 2016: The city visits the vacant house in response to the waste complaint.
Nov. 2, 2016: The city receives a complaint that no work is progressing at the vacant house. Feb. 3, 2017: The city leaves a message with the applicant to supply the outstanding information for a building permit.
Feb. 8, 2017: The city leaves another message with the applicant about outstanding information for a building permit.
March 6, 2017: The city visits the vacant house to find new renovation material in the backyard, suggesting renovations are still underway.
March 15, 2017: Still missing outstanding information for a building permit, the city orders the applicant to submit the required information by April
13 for review, in order to secure a building permit by April 28.
March 22, 2017: Neighbour Rhonda Piché complains to the city about the derelict property and about squatters she fears are in the house. “If there are people in there I am concerned for the safety of the neighbourhood,” she writes.
The city visits the vacant house. An enforcement officer reports: “When I was inside I saw new windows, a door and other construction materials that indicate the reno is still going on.” The sliding patio door in the rear is open and the lock is broken. The officer enters, picks up a piece of wood to block the patio door from opening, and exits by the side door, locking it behind him. The city leaves messages for the owner to secure the property.
March 23, 2017: The owner promises to board up the patio door by March 25. The city visits the house to find it is still locked and the wood is still blocking the sliding door.
March 30, 2017: The city visits the vacant house to find the building is locked and the owner has secured the patio door.
June 13, 2017: The vacant house is destroyed by a suspicious fire that damages two houses next door.