Waverley Street condo board takes legal action against addiction treatment recovery centre

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This article was published 06/08/2024 (398 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The fight over an addiction treatment centre in a residential condo development on Waverley Street has moved to litigation, despite the operator’s promise to relocate.

Michael Bruneau, president and chief executive officer of Aurora Recovery Centre — a private drug and alcohol treatment centre north of Gimli — purchased 23 units at 873 Waverley St., with plans to renovate and rent the suites out as the Aurora Family Reunification Village, in which children would live with their parents who were undergoing treatment.

But the condo’s board and owners in the development opposed the move, telling Bruneau the paperwork he signed to buy the condos clearly indicates he can’t operate a business of any kind in the residential suites.

In late July, the condo board’s lawyer, Lynda Troup of Thompson Dorfman Sweatman, filed a notice of application in Court of King’s Bench under the Condominium Act, seeking a declaration that Bruneau and his company are violating the condo’s bylaws by using the suites for business purposes.

The application also seeks a court order for Bruneau and his company to cease and desist from carrying out business in the development.

The court application was filed July 19, two days after Bruneau first told the Free Press on July 17 he was going to relocate from the development.

Bruneau said last week that he’s still planning to move.

“To find an empty apartment block is quite hard, but I’ve… got an offer on a site right now to build and I think I’m going to get it,” he said Friday.

But he insisted he’s moving out only because of opposition from the board and other owners, not because his plan violates the condo rules.

“(The clients) rent a place, it’s in their name, and we get their children to move back with them,” he said. “Aurora staff are hired to help these parents live in a home.”

He argued providing services to the residents, such as counsellors and social workers, is equivalent to a private homeowner hiring a home-care nurse to provide services.

“I would not move if the clients were happy and could handle the stress… but they know they’re not wanted.”– Michael Bruneau, president and chief executive officer of Aurora Recovery Centre

“The condo is saying I’m running a business, I guess we’ll have to find out in court,” said Bruneau. “The only reason I’m looking to move — I really think I can legally do what I’m doing — but the clients feel very hurt, people are walking by taking pictures of them, staring. I would not move if the clients were happy and could handle the stress… but they know they’re not wanted.”

The Free Press has confirmed that people — apparent residents of the treatment village — have continued to move into the development.

Robert Murdoch, vice-president of the condo association, declined to comment on the litigation. Murdoch previously said the condo association was only enforcing the development’s rules against businesses there in its opposition to Bruneau’s plans.

The condo development, which has two multi-storey buildings and a few townhouses, was built by Qualico in 2005 as part of a development that included a strip mall, A&W and Co-op gas station. Aurora was located in the west multi-storey condo building.

The court application, which had an initial hearing July 31, is being held over until a full-day contested hearing in October, after both sides have filed materials with the court.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca