Committee to plumb sewage-pipe dispute

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This article was published 06/09/2024 (393 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Point Douglas industrial site owner and the City of Winnipeg will face off at an appeal hearing next week over the city’s attempts to inspect a 60-year-old sewage pipe.

City hall claims AC Landco 98 Inc. violated the municipal sewer bylaw in June when staff were denied access to 1 and 2 Point Douglas Ave., which is located next to the Red River and within the neighbourhood’s eastern point.

The company is appealing an order, issued in July, to allow staff to inspect the wastewater system, which city spokeswoman Lisa Marquardson said is necessary “to ensure the health and safety of the public and the environment.”

“The city has been trying to gain access to the sewer on 1 and 2 Point Douglas Ave. to assess its condition,” Marquardson wrote in an email Thursday.

“To date, the city has not been allowed access by the property owner to the sewer easement at this property.”

She said a concrete interceptor sewer that runs through the property has been scheduled for inspection based on its life cycle.

The city wants to find out if the pipe, originally installed in 1965 and 1,200 millimetres in diameter, is in need of repairs.

“Presently, the condition of the sewer at this location is unknown,” Marquardson wrote.

“The sewer downstream of the interceptor pipe was previously inspected and found to be in poor condition and required rehabilitation using a cured-in-place pipe liner.”

A report by city staff said a letter, dated June 7, informed Calgary-based AC Landco 98 that employees would require access to the property June 24.

“Despite previous requests for access, to date, the owner and/or occupant have failed to provide the city and its agents access to the property and have thereby obstructed their ability to inspect and/or work on the wastewater system at the property,” the report said.

The order named Steven Butt as president of AC Landco 98. Butt and lawyers from Winnipeg-based MLT Aikins LLP, which represents the Alberta company, did not respond to requests for comment.

The law firm’s notice of appeal said AC Landco 98 “objects to the city accessing the entirety or any part thereof” of the roughly 16.5 acres of land the company owns in Point Douglas.

The notice did not provide a reason.

“I’m interested in knowing why it is that a property owner would not grant access, given the explanation that the city is giving, that this is critical infrastructure to prevent an environmental disaster,” said Coun. Evan Duncan, who chairs the city’s water, waste and environment committee.

He will oversee Monday’s appeal hearing.

Duncan said it was not clear to him why city employees were not given access to the property but the question will be posed to the person or people who appear on the company’s behalf.

The four-member committee will hear arguments before making a decision on the appeal.

“I’m approaching this with an open mind,” said Duncan, the councillor for Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood.

The sewer bylaw sets out a fine of $1,000 to $50,000 for a first offence.

In addition to Butt, the order was addressed to a lawyer in the care of Sheldon Blank, who operated Gateway Industries at the Point Douglas industrial site.

Firefighters have attended multiple fires at the site since 2011, including a blaze that destroyed a warehouse used by Gateway Industries in 2021, and another that gutted a storage building the following year.

Demolition permits were previously issued for some structures at the gated property.

The city issued two orders for security requirements at 1 Point Douglas Ave. in November, according to an online database of active vacant building bylaw compliance orders.

Blank declined to comment on the sewer inspection order until after Monday’s hearing.

Part of the former Vulcan Iron Works site that he owns in Point Douglas was recently demolished, after it was gutted by a large fire in 2023.

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca