Massive piles of rubble from a fire that destroyed a Spence neighbourhood apartment fire nearly 2 1/2 years ago are finally going to be removed.
Work to clear the site, at 694 Sherbrook St., will begin next week and take about four weeks to complete, city spokesman Kalen Qually said Tuesday.
A nearby resident who has been pleading with the city to have what she has called “ski slopes” removed, was overjoyed with the news.
RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS FILES
After more than two years, work to clear the rubble left from a fire at 694 Sherbrook St. is set to begin next week.
“That’s wonderful — that’s so good to hear,” said Cheryl Martens.
“But it took two and a half years to do this. It shouldn’t have taken that long. It was actually quite a nice apartment building – the owners had even painted it red and green, but then there was the fire.”
Martens said there are five or six other similar piles of rubble where apartment buildings used to stand elsewhere in the neighbourhood which they also want the city to address.
“This was the largest one and it was on Sherbrook so it was the most prominent one, but there are others,” she said.
“It gives the impression this is a neighbourhood the city doesn’t care about.”
The three-storey Tremont Apartments burned to the ground Feb. 14, 2022. In December that year, the city issued an order to the site’s owner to clean it up by February 2023.
A September 2023 city report advised that the city has the power to clear the site and bill the owner but recommended against doing so because it would require a lengthy and costly legal process.
kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca
Kevin Rollason
Reporter
Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press’s city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin.
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