Forest View Suites, formerly Princeton Towers, continues to be a hot spot for RCMP responses and malicious fire alarms, members and observers of Thompson’s public safety committee heard Sept. 12 at the committee’s first meeting since June.
The apartment complex’s two buildings, which have 275 apartments in total, were reinspected by Thompson Fire & Emergency Services (TFES) over the summer, which resulted in 98 deficiencies being noted, 81 of them for lighting and safety issues, said TFES deputy chief Steve Molloy. With fines of $348 for each of those 81 deficiencies, the owners owe the City of Thompson more than $28,000 in fines, though they may never get that money, since the city is third or fourth on the list of creditors owed money by the owners. Management of the apartments was taken over July 31 by Ernst & Young on behalf of RBC, which is owed $23 million by Polar Bear Properties, which has owned the buildings since 2009. Molloy said a bankruptcy trustee conducted an appraisal of the buildings and that RBC is deciding whether to sink money into the buildings to bring them up to an acceptable standard or to absorb a loss by trying to sell the towers as they are right now.
The public safety committee’s quarterly report being presented at the Sept. 16 council meeting says that TFES continues to receive malicious false fire alarms from the buildings.
“From May to August we responded 142 times to those apartment blocks and continue to do so. Thompson Fire & Emergency Services is working with the new management of the towers and other agencies to address this problem. Not only are we responding to malicious false alarms, we respond to where the elevator is stuck with several people in it. Several fire code violations have also been addressed. In May and June we had the same issue at the Laval and Nickel apartment, however, since then it is mainly the north and south towers.”
Darren Fulford of the Canadian Mental Health Association/Thompson Homeless Shelter, said a Project Northern Doorway participant who was formerly homeless had been living in an apartment in one of the towers but was forced to move out and into 95 Cree Rd. because they needed to use the elevator, which was frequently out of service.
“To me that was a big huge safety issue,” Fulford said.
“In the codes it needs to be operational 24/7,” said Molloy.
Public safety committee chair Coun. Jeff Fountain said that there have been many questions to the city regarding the towers.
“North and south tower were ridiculous this year,” he said, noting that Thompson now has a public health inspector who has started a number of enforcement actions against the owners.
Responding to the question about why the RCMP no longer has a community office in the towers like they used to and whether that is something that might be brought back, Thompson RCMP detachment officer-in-charge Insp. Brian Edmonds said he doesn’t support the idea at this time and believes it is more valuable to have officers visiting schools.
“Given our other priorities … and our current resources I would want to continue on the path we are,” said Edmonds.
Calls for service from the apartments have dropped since June, when RCMP were called there 143 times.
“Last month or two the calls seem to have subsided somewhat,” Edmonds said. “It seems like it’s a little bit better.”
City manager Anthony McInnis said the city as well as RCMP, TFES, the Residential Tenancies Branch and the Public Health department continue to work on improving the situation at Forest View Suites, but said that some enforcement actions require someone to make a report to the appropriate agencies and that, in some cases, while complaints are being aired on social media, the agencies who deal with them have received no reports from tenants.
“There have been a number of things going on behind the scenes,” he said. “It’s still an area of concern.”
