By Kellah Lavoie

Appeal planned for Minto Apartments denied sale

Jul 11, 2011 | 6:15 AM

The City of Prince Albert’s Property Maintenance Appeal Board’s decision will not stop the owner of Minto Apartments from trying to sell the building.

On Friday the board released their decision, denying Larry Markwart, owner of Minto Apartments, to sell the facility to Prince Albert Full Gospel Outreach.

Details of the 13 page decision state that “the board is not convinced that the business plan is sufficiently detailed to assure the safety and security of any tenants who might take up residents in this facility … the Board remains unconvinced that the operational plan presented by the proposed buyers is sufficient to preclude any future nuisance.”

It also mentioned the financial projections of the potential buyer are not “suitable or sustainable” when it comes to renovations and operations of the building.

Peter Abrametz Sr., Markwart’s lawyer, said he spoke with his client and they plan to appeal to the Court of Queen’s Bench. They have 30 days from when the decision was released to do so.

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“He feels that they had a legitimate purchaser, a bona fide purchaser for value, and that it was not the city’s appeal board to say that the buyer could or couldn’t make money on the proposition,” Abrametz said.

“I think that the property management appeal board … considered matters that were inappropriate to the final outcome.”

Mitch Holash, the lawyer representing Bylaw Enforcement, said he and his client were pleased with Friday’s outcome.

“We think it supports the continuation of efforts to avoid the nuisance at the Minto Apartments building,” he said.

“We didn’t want a situation where, having resolved the nuisance problem since 2005, that the community in downtown Prince Albert be exposed to further nuisance.”

He referred to the past six years as a “very long and protracted series of legal proceedings,” adding he believed the board’s decision ends the matter for now.

“The board, I think correctly, was as much concerned about the safety and the lifestyle of the people that would be in such a building, with all the challenges in a downtown residential setting for low-income persons,” Holash said.

He brought up the fact that in the last legal proceedings Justice A.R. Rothery called the low-income downtown residence a “failed social experiment.”

Abrametz said they will have their appeal in within the next 30 days, adding “We’re finished with the property maintenance appeal, thank God.”

klavoie@panow.com