Posted on 07/25/2021 9:59:49 AM PDT by rickmichaels
A judge has ruled that a $3million luxury home in Quebec, Canada, built less than ten years ago must be demolished and the local city will need to pay for it.
The ruling is the latest in a roughly eight-year legal saga that began when the home was built too close to the street, violating local zoning laws in the city of Gatineau.
The judge's decision overrules an exemption the city gave the homeowner in a bid to keep the mansion as-is.
In his ruling this week, Quebec Superior Court Judge Michel Deniel said owner Patrick Molla had every reason to believe his home met building code requirements when the city granted him permits to build in May 2013, the Canadian Press reported.
That September, however, the city discovered that the planning official who approved the permits made an error when they allowed construction to go forward on the home, which is about 23 feet from the street. Homes must be built at least 51 feet away from the street, according to local bylaws.
Instead of telling Molla to stop construction on the home, however, the city allowed it to go forward, telling him that the problem would be taken care of. In February, 2014, Molla's family moved into the home, and in July, 2014 it granted him a 'minor exemption' to keep it in compliance.
Deniel's ruling override's Gatineau's exemption, and says there was likely little choice except for it to be torn down.
He sided with neighbors who complained the property was out of character with the rest of the neighborhood and argued that the city's exemption was an illegal abuse of power.
'Had he known the risk of eventual demolition, he would not have continued issued Moll construction on Sept. 25, 2013,' Deniel said in his ruling.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
What a convoluted approach, the owner already owns the lot, nothing happened to the lot.
The misguided agency should make him whole, by demo and building a new house, that’s it!
Paint Black Lives Matter on the house.
No one can then touch it.
Jack it up and put wheels on it .... really piss them off ... 3 million dollar trailer.
Can they move the house?
They have moved a lighthouse.
https://www.nps.gov/caha/learn/historyculture/movingthelighthouse.htm
yup
Hmm. 28 feet closer to the water looks like half the distance there. Crazy.
Also, the first picture, the bare edge of the house on the right does not look 30 feet different than the guy’s house. They miiight be 15-20 feet further back, definitely not 50+ feet from the road. Do they not have an exemption?
That works.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.