Owners of an embattled fire-damaged home in West Vancouver have been told by a B.C. Supreme Court judge to comply with a demolition order.
According to a ruling issued Dec. 24, the District of West Vancouver has been granted an injunction that prevents co-owner Rosa Donna Este and others from interfering with the ordered demolition of the home at 2668 Bellevue Ave.
The home was bought by Este and her mother Mina Esteghamat‑Ardakani in 2003. Este told the court she lived in the house until 2015, when it was extensively damaged in a fire. It sat derelict for more than five years. After receiving complaints about the “eyesore” property, the district issued a demolition order in December 2020.
In 2021, Este applied for a permit to build a new house on the property, which her mother opposed, and the district denied the permit application.
Shortly after, Este applied for a judicial review of the decision and demolition order, which stated that all owners – including Esteghamat‑Ardakani – must participate in a permit application. Este took the position in court that her mother’s consent was not required to build a new house on the property, but the B.C. Court of Appeal rejected her argument.
Este has also previously taken Esteghamat‑Ardakani to court, attempting to force her mother to comply with Este’s wishes to alter the property, the ruling notes.
The matter is further complicated by Este’s ex-husband Mehran Taherkhani, who has pending litigation on the property in relation to a family claim.
No triable issues related to enforceability of demolition order, judge rules
In her ruling, Justice Francesca Marzari agreed with the district’s position that Este has not complied with the demolition order; has demolished of parts of the house without a permit; has gone ahead with construction on the property without a permit; and that she has ignored stop work orders and interfered with the work of district contractors.
Marzari acknowledged that Este didn’t dispute her non-compliance and in fact argued she did so openly and “disclosed to them that I’m going to do this.”
“Her argument is that she should not have to demolish the house in its entirety because the demolition order is either invalid, or obsolete because the house is no longer in poor repair,” Marzari said. “In either event, she argues that the demolition order is unenforceable.”
Este argued that the district’s request for an injunction shouldn’t be granted because of alleged irregularities including non-disclosure to district council of an email about the soundness of the foundation of her home from her insurance company’s engineer. She further claimed that the demolition order isn’t applicable anymore because she no longer wants to demolish the home entirely, as she did previously, and that due to improvements made (without permits) the house is no longer a nuisance or unsafe, according to the court documents.
Appealing to the issue of hardship, the judge acknowledged other arguments by Este that she loves the home and has spared no expense to rebuild it over the past year, including installing a door worth $10,000.
But Marzari ruled that there were no triable issues with respect to the enforceability of the demolition order, and that the previous Appeals Court decision held.
Marzari added that the myriad arguments Este made to question the fairness of the demolition order had already been resolved by the court.
“Efforts to raise new or fresh evidence to reopen those arguments are now far too late. That may have been available on appeal, which was taken,” the judge wrote in her decision. “They are no longer available to Dr. Este.”
Marzari also ruled that the demolition order still held despite legal arguments made by Este’s ex-husband.
The judge ordered that Este or anyone acting on her behalf be restrained from doing any unpermitted work on the property, or acting in any way to obstruct district contractors from carrying out the demolition order at the Bellevue Avenue home.
Este was further ordered to cover the district’s legal costs.
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