Landlord challenges fines over graffiti removal
A Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue landlord was in court this week to challenge the legitimacy of thousands of dollars in fines from the municipality for graffiti on a building he owns on the town’s main street.
Kristian Gravenor, the owner of a low-rise apartment block at the corner of Ste-Anne and Du College Streets, received more than $7,000 in fines in 2013 for failing to remove graffiti scrawled on a wall of his building.
The case was heard Monday at municipal court in Pointe-Claire.
In his own defence, Gravenor argued the fines were unjustified because the town had failed to inform him that under the town’s bylaw he could be ticketed for failing to remove the graffiti someone had put on his building.
In addition, he said, he had consented to let the town paint over the graffiti with its standard white paint when he was first contacted about it in December 2012 by a town inspector and, later that same day, by her supervisor.
In those calls, Gravenor said, neither the town inspector nor her supervisor told him he would be fined if the graffiti was not removed within 10 days, or by Dec. 29, 2012.
He said he did ask that town officials give him “four or five days” to check if he had a matching paint in the storeroom of his building. But, he added, he made it clear the town should do what it needed to do if the graffiti was still there the following week.
“Why would anyone agree to take fines?” said Gravenor. “I was never informed of the possibility I could be fined.”
He said it was a total shock in August 2013, when he started receiving $146 tickets in bundles of eight at his home in Notre-Dame-de- Grâce. In all, he said, he received 47 tickets totalling more than $7,000 in fines.
But by then, the graffiti had been gone for four months. He said he removed it himself in April 2013.
It was the second day of court proceedings in the case.
Back in May, the prosecution presented evidence in its case from the two town officials, both of whom testified they had warned Gravenor he would be fined if he did not remove the graffiti.
Under cross-examination on Monday, crown prosecutor Sophie Beauvais hammered at Gravenor demanding him to explain why he hadn’t called the town when no one turned up to paint his wall.
He answered it was winter and he thought the town had decided to wait.
For close to an hour, Gravenor testified in his own defence, doing his best to chip away at the town’s handling of the case and its application of its graffiti bylaw.
“It’s not just about he said, she said,” he argued. “It’s about a whole approach to municipal inspection. The city has an obligation to communicate to me.”
“My whole life went into a tailspin,” he said. “This crazy Alice in Wonderland business was true. It wasn’t a joke.”
After closing arguments from both Gravenor and Beauvais, Judge Marie Brouillet said, she needed time to review other cases on how municipalities have dealt with property owners and graffiti cleanup.
The judge is expected to render a decision on Jan. 22, 2016.