Unbuilt monster home in limbo
Neighbours are the big losers in a legal battle over a partially built 6,600-squarefoot Brampton monster house still standing two years after the city ordered it demolished.
“I’ve heard that they’re going back to court in March,” says an exasperated Lynne Murphy, who lives directly across the street from the weather-beaten, fad- ed blue structure. “Who knows. It’s been delay after delay after delay. We put in nice bay windows and now all I see is blue — no sun.”
The city of Brampton and property owner Ahmed Elbasiouni have been locked in a legal fight since 2013, when the city ordered him to demolish the structure.
The building is surrounded by homes a quarter the size. Residents and councillors had claimed it was bigger than what was allowed under the city’s zoning bylaws. Elbasiouni has maintained all along that he received approval from the city to build the home.
He said it was detailed in the architectural drawings he submitted, which city building officials stamped before he was given a building permit in 2012. Then, in February 2013, after residents and councillors complained about the size of the structure Elbasiouni was erecting after demolishing the old house on the property, his building permit was revoked by the city. However, shortly after, staff admitted the permit was issued in “error.”
“A technical discrepancy,” staff explained at a planning committee meeting, may have allowed the permit to be issued in accordance to the drawings Elbasiouni had submitted for approval.
He appealed the city’s revocation of his permit to the Ontario Superior Court and Justice Kofi Barnes ruled in the summer of 2013 that the city used a “wrong” bylaw when it issued the permit to Elbasiouni. Barnes ordered that the city’s decision to revoke the building permit be stayed and offered three possible options, including possible demolition of the home. He outlined a timeline to decide on a solution by early 2014.
In an email to the Star on Thursday, the city stated that Elbasiouni has since “brought no fewer than six motions to the Court.”
Elbasiouni also responded to the Star, stating that the city has filed multiple appeals and motions in the case. Elbasiouni stated in his email that an upcoming court appearance will address “allegations of the city’s subsequent actions, suspicious irregularity, improper actions and misleading the Honourable Court.”
Both parties blame the other for delaying the case.
Barnes eventually removed himself from the increasingly complex process. In withdrawing from the case and declaring that his timetable for a solution had to be stayed, Barnes wrote in an “endorsement” last year that, “this litigation has been hampered by a high level of mistrust which has detracted the parties from the main issue.”
“Even if he was allowed because of some technical error the city made, who would build a house that big in this area?” LYNNE MURPHY BRAMPTON RESIDENT
The next court date has now been set for Feb. 20.
Meanwhile, Murphy says she and other neighbours are beyond furious. “My husband and I retired two years ago. Our plans are on hold because of that house. We’re not willing to take a massive hit on our home.”
She blames both the property owner and the city, equally.
“The city made a lot of mistakes, but he just wanted to keep expanding and expanding it. Even if he was al- lowed because of some technical error the city made, who would build a house that big in this area?”
Murphy places much of the blame on the local councillors. “Where were they when this could have all been prevented?”
One of the ward’s councillors, Grant Gibson, says he cannot comment because Elbasiouni has recently threatened legal action against him.
Elbasiouni confirmed that he has sent a legal letter to commence action against Gibson, Elaine Moore (the other ward councillor) and former councillor Paul Palleschi for what he alleges were “defamatory statements they made about me.”
Murphy believes it’s she and her neighbours who will continue to feel the real effect of a situation that’s gone horribly wrong.
“He (Elbasiouni) probably just wants to get the biggest settlement he can because the city made the mistakes and they (the city) will probably end up giving him what he wants to walk away,” Murphy adds.
“No one cares about how this is hurting all of us.”