Extreme neglect: Aftermath of Roy St. fire leaves neighbours coping with squatters, mould, vermin

Irene Wagner and her family were forced out of their home for a year after a five-alarm fire tore through theapartment building and convenience storenext door and severely damaged their condoin the PlateauMont-Royal borough.

When Wagner's family finally returned home lastspring, the shell of the burnt-out building next door was still there, untouched.

"It's an eyesore," said Wagner.

"We've had squatters. Rodents in the building itself. There's a smell of rotten wood, a mouldy smell coming from the building."

After the fire in April 2015, Wagner said they routinelycalled the police to report squatters. She saidthe fire escape was finally barricaded, but the windows and doors downstairs are not boarded up.

"People find a way to get in," said Wagner.

Frontage attracts litter, discarded needles

Wagner used to love theneighbourly feel of Laval Avenue.

Before the fire, the kids would gather on the front street and play, while the adults gabbed and drank wine.

No more. The flowerbed in front of the burnt-outbuilding has becomea dumping ground for garbage, and Wagner saidshe and her neighbours have seen used needles discarded there.

"We're not sure how safe the balcony is,either," said Wagner.

The building has also changed the way Wagner and her family live. They rarely sit out ontheir back balcony now, as itlooks out onto the wreckage of what's left of the adjacentbuilding,as well as resident pigeons and rodents.

If there's a breeze, the whiff of mould and rot is hard to ignore.

If firefighters don't demolish, delays set in

When there's a fire, if a building is determined to be structurallyunsound while firefighters are putting it outor it's so unsafe it's preventing firefighters from extinguishing itthe firefighters themselves will make a call to demolish it immediately.

However, that's a last resort.

If the building isn't brought down right away, and it's determined later that it's unsafe,it can be difficult for the building's ownerto get approval to demolish it.

More from this series:

• Plummeting property valuesleave neighbours of derelict St. Dominique St.building upset
• City of Montreal powerless to act as heritagegreystonesrot away on del'EsplanadeAve.

Shortly after the fire at 250 Roy Street East, the building's owner sold it.

A replacement project is in the works, but Wagner isn't holding her breath.

She saidthe heritage value of the area will likely mean the developer will have more hoops to jump through before the building can come down.

'Things take time,' developer says

Matthew Lieberman is thedeveloper who plansto build a new building on Roy Street.

His company has the demolition permit and is working on getting the construction permit for a 10-unit apartment building with a convenience storeon the ground floor.

"Things take time," he said about working with the borough to get the development approved, adding that just the reports to prove the building no longer had any structural or heritage value took months.

"They care a lot about the history and patrimony of everything."

An official for the PlateauMont-Royalborough says a construction permit should be issued soon.

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