Sherbrook Street apartment rubble cost City of Winnipeg more than $37K

A pile of rubble left after a fire destroyed a Sherbrook Street apartment building has cost the City of Winnipeg tens of thousands of dollars, according to a city official.

On Monday, the property and development committee rejected an appeal of an order to clean up the property at 694 Sherbrook St. by Feb. 15.

That date would mark a full year since fire tore through the building shortly before midnight on Valentine's Day in 2022.

Since then, the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service has spent more than $37,000 trying to protect the site and preventing people from getting in, Rob Clements, enforcement supervisor for the planning and development department, told the committee at the appeal hearing.

"This property is still unsafe because of the debris there," Clements said.

The city has had to replace fencing that has been damaged, and firefighters have been sent to the site to disperse a homeless encampment that was set up on the property.

The municipal accommodations department has also spent more than $17,000 on two partial demolitions to take down walls that were left standing after the initial demolition. Those costs will be added to the property tax bill, Clements said.

Last month, the City of Winnipeg ordered the numbered company that is the registered owner of the property to remove the debris. 

"Through communications with planning property and development, the numbered company has stated they no longer have anything to do with the property," Clements told the committee on Monday.

In a notice of appeal on Dec. 21, 2022, a lawyer for the credit union that holds a mortgage on the property said it is negotiating with an insurance company over the costs.

Clements told the committee that Sunova Credit Union, which held the mortgage at the time of the fire, "was exercising their power of sale due to unpaid mortgage and other fees."

While the city was working with the credit union and property owner to try to clean up the site, Sunova merged with Access Credit Union, which then began reviewing the process of the demolition permit with their insurance company, Clements said.

"It came to be that Access believed they weren't responsible for the removal … and now they are going back and forth with their insurance company to see if their insurance will cover the costs of this demolition process," he said.

A spokesperson for the credit union echoed that statement in an email to CBC News.

"Access Credit Union is only the mortgage holder and not the owner of the Sherbrook property and has no obligation to clean up the site," chief marketing officer Adam Monteith wrote.

The committee voted unanimously to reject the credit union's appeal, and confirmed the city's order to clean up the Sherbrook Street property by Feb. 15.