A local man says he’s disappointed Grand Forks city council didn’t act on his request this week over a housing development and hopes they will change their minds.
Chuck Varabioff says he will ask council to reconsider his request to use property rather than cash as a security deposit for his 20-lot development on 68th Avenue. By a 3-2 vote this week, council decided to receive his request for information and take no action. One councillor was absent and another recused himself.
Varabioff is also seeking to lower the amount he will be required to provide as the deposit and to eliminate a requirement to have a concrete curb and gutter. Council hasn’t decided yet on those two requests.
The matter stems from a set of construction drawings that Varabioff said the city initially approved but subsequently revised. The changes cost him about $70,000, money that Varabioff had otherwise earmarked for paving.
“I already have $2 million into the project, and the city’s not willing to bend or take my property as a security, which they legally can,” he said. “So I am going to ask them to reconsider, and I hope the public can get behind this and let the city know how unreasonable they’re being, because we need these 20 lots with titles, and we need to be able to sell them ASAP.”
Varabioff said when he submitted his drawings to the city three years ago, they were missing detailed electrical plans, although they indicated how power would reach the development. He said the city accepted those plans, but subsequently requested formal drawings. At that time, the city told him a different power pole would have to be used, which added the extra cost.
“My argument is if they’re saying they didn’t have the engineered drawings when they approved this, why approve it and tell us we could go ahead?”
The completion bond is normally set at 125 per cent of the remaining project cost, in the event the city has to step in and finish the subdivision itself. But Varabioff argues that if he has that money anyway, there is no reason why he wouldn’t complete construction himself.
He said if the city accepted property as security, it would speed the project up, to everyone’s benefit. He said the property would be worth far in excess of the $200,000 he estimates it will cost to complete the project.
He also estimated he has brought over $30 million to the local economy through the music festivals he has organized since 2015.
“Everybody in the area knows I’m not going to run away with my project 95 per cent done,” he said. “All I’m asking is the city to reconsider.”
