Connaught Business License Pulled for 3 Months
RCMP Superintendent Warren Brown offers evidence at hearing – photo 250News
Prince George, B.C. – After three hours of witnesses, and cross examination, Council has unanimously supported maintaining the 3 month suspension of the business license for the Connaught Motor Inn.The license suspension is to take effect July 1st . That means monthly tenants ( about 9) will be served a months notice on June 1st, advising they will have to find a new home by July 1st.
The hotel sits at the corner of 15th and Victoria in downtown Prince George, a major intersection, and while the property owners tried to convince Council the problems were being brought on to the property by trespassers making their way from a nearby liquor store to other locations, Prince George RCMP Superintendent Warren Brown dispelled that thought saying the hotel was the “hub” of illegal activity from stolen property to drug trafficking and prostitution. It accounted for more than 600 calls for service over the past four years, and numerous other stops by police who were trying to be proactive in their crime investigations.
At a hearing this morning where the owners were appealing a 3 month suspension of their business license, the owners of the property said they were surprised to hear the property had been a regular hot spot for police activity and told Council they have plans to address the issues outlined in the letter they received in January of this year.
Property owner Joe Carhoun told Council they would have acted sooner, but it was winter when they were first made aware of the issues and, according to Carhoun who lives in the lower mainland, the Fraser Canyon is often closed in the winter making it impossible to get crews to Prince George.
At one point, owner Joe Carhoun posed a question to RCMP Superintendant Warren Brown about how to battle the criminal activity at the site “If you were me, what would you do?” asked Carhoun. Supt. Brown was quick to reply “If I were you, we wouldn’t be here.”
Superintendent Brown also said to Carhoun “I think you have been willfully blind in the way you have run your hotel.” Carhoun responded with “You’re right, but not willfully.”
The Carhouns told Council they have secured the financing to make the necessary repairs and upgrades, and have a tenant who wants to run the restaurant but is reluctant to do so pending the outcome of the hearing. Joe Carhoun said the loss of that tenant could mean the loss of about 30 jobs. He also said the whole ( business license suspension appeal) process has been “ram rodded down our throats” that they didn’t have enough time to prepare their case. But Counsel for the City noted that since the first letter was sent to the owners in January advising of the issues that needed to be dealt with, there has not been one building permit issued or an application for a permit filed. The Carhouns were advised April 8th that their business license would be suspended , pending appeal.
The Carhouns also told Council they plan to put a fence around the property and a gate that will be locked at night to keep unregistered guests from entering the premises after 10:30 at night. They also promised cameras a security system and security guards. But Council didn’t buy the promises.
Councillor Brian Skakun said the owners would have been better to not even show up for this morning’s appeal because much of what they had to say was , in his opinion, “garbage”.
Councillor Terri McConnachie says “claims of ignorance of the problems with this property have fallen on my deaf ears” then added ” The owners have continued to provide crappy accommodation to people they claim to be victim of.”
Mayor Lyn Hall said he recently went on an RCMP ride-along which took him to the Connaught “I found it very, very interesting, I found I was disheartened, disappointed in what I saw because it was people of our community staying in that location with folks that were homeless, in distress, drug abuse problems, and we just took a drive through and I really had my eyes opened, it was heartbreaking, disappointing, and as we went through today’s hearing, I couldn’t help but think of that ”
The list of issues for the owners of the Connaught to address is long and fall within 2 timelines:
The business license will not be reinstated until all of the issues have been addressed.
it has been well over a year since the City suspended the business license for the Willow Inn ( formerly the Homeland, or Ranch) motel on Victoria. That building has not yet satisfied the conditions set for it to resume business.
Comments
I see a financial combustion in the near future.
“according to Carhoun who lives in the lower mainland, the Fraser Canyon is often closed in the winter making it impossible to get crews to Prince George.” LOL!!
Google this Joe Carhoun’s name. He has properties falling apart all over the Province. There are currently multiple communities taking action against him. I hope one of his crappy buildings fall on him!
Sounds to me, I wouldn’t want to work for him as a contractor anyway. .
Councillor Brian Skakun said the owners would have been better to not even show up for this morning’s appeal because much of what they had to say was , in his opinion, “garbage”.
what a guy…. Hey Brian…most of what you say is garbage too.. sure you aren’t a silent partner in the place ?
Clear the tenants and mow it down. The issue will be the same. Where will these marginalized people go? This lower mainland slum lord needs to be held accountable to the city for these actions. if the cops came to my place 6 or 700 times, I’d be lead away in handcuffs and put in jail. No fire alarms, no extinguisher, no fire plans, no oversight, no security
etc etc etc.
The funniest thing was the issue with getting work crews through the Fraser Canyon in the winter. That is a guy making it up as he goes along.
Throw his ass in jail. If that place burned down and people died in the fire, maybe then someone will do something .
I just love his last comment in regards to his derelict property in Cache Creek. The quote is courtesy of the Kamloops Daily News archives.
“The Village of Cache Creek is taking legal action against the Kamloops owner of Oasis Hotel, claiming the property is unsafe and poses risk to the public.
The village filed a lawsuit in B.C. Supreme Court seeking access for a host of agencies to better assess the building’s safety. Those include professionals from Interior Health Authority, public works, building and fire inspectors as well as structural engineers.
The village is also seeking its legal costs.
The vacant, two-storey building is visible from the Trans-Canada Highway and attached to the Oasis Hotel by a walkway. It is owned by Joe Carhoun.
In its statement of claim, the village said it has worked for the past two years to get the property cleaned up. Visible inside glass-fronted former commercial shops are “dozens” of dead pigeons.
There is water damage and potential structural damage, it said.
The building poses a fire risk, particularly dangerous because it is connected to the hotel, the village argues.
In a letter written in October and filed as part of the documents, Carhoun said he intends to put a new roof on the building in the spring.
“We are simply waiting for the economy to turn around to proceed,” he wrote the village’s administrator.
“Cache Creek has not changed population in 20 years. So investing must be very carefully done or one loses money operating.”
Oasis Hotel Ltd. has yet to file a statement of defence. None of the allegations are proven or have been heard in court.
“I have plans,” Carhoun continued in his letter to the village. “We are underway on this. If you want us to skip town, let us know.”
the licenece is supsended for 90 days…
so how many people are now sleeping on the street
that had a bed last night?
None. Didn’t you read the article?
None today….approx 9 come July 1st
Sucks to be them .. what kind of idiot lives in a motel anyway?
I thought it was a Motel , its not zoned for a homeless shelter. All the problems should not be put in one area of the City as the nimby people think. The people who do stay there deserve a clean bed to sleep in and a clean room. I would like to see the Motel brought back to its former glory. There is rules for Motels to follow , so why has this Motel not been condemned?? Do not paint the whole are with the same brush.
Another thought; get rid of both trouble Motels , join them with the vacant lot and make a strip mall with housing above.
Who are you talking to ? Jimmy Pattison ?
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