Residents scrambling after Occupancy Permit denied for Princess St building
Residents who would be moving in to a newly-built 31-unit student residence on Princess St this weekend are now scrambling for alternate accommodations because the building failed to meet all requirements for an occupancy permit, says the City of Kingston.
“A building inspection at 630 Princess St. today revealed that the building did not meet the minimum requirements set out in the Ontario Building Code,” the City said in a release dated August 31st, 2018.
“The Ontario Building Code sets out requirements for an occupancy permit to be issued and some life-safety issues remain to be resolved,” says Ryan Arcand, deputy chief building official. “Occupancy requires final sign-offs for architectural, mechanical, electrical and structural elements, fire and sprinkler certifications.”
Given the vicinity of the building and because most residents are expected to be Queen’s University students, city officials have reached out to Queen’s University to make it aware that some of its students may be affected by this issue.
The city says that tenant concerns and questions should be directed to the building’s owner, which the city’s press release says is Stelmach Project Management Ltd. Previous applications to the city related to the property list Jay Patry Enterprises as the property owner, but the property was sold to Stelmach, according to Cindie Ashton, Communications Officer for the City.
Once the building is ready for a re-inspection, the City says it will work with the developer to expedite the process, although the next possible inspection date is not known and may be adversely affected by the long weekend.
A worker on site on Friday evening at around 8 p.m. claimed that all work necessary for occupancy had been completed by that time, but that the required work had not been completed by the 4 p.m. time that city inspectors had set for completion.
The City of Kingston says the site supervisor for the building has requested a re-inspection on Tuesday.