The owner of two vacant lots in Erin Ridge says he wants to develop his lots but hasn't been able to bounce back from a series of setbacks.
Manuel Martins, a 57-year-old St. Albert resident, has for years been at the heart of an ongoing controversy involving undeveloped parcels of land in Erin Ridge. Neighbours have been complaining about the empty lots, located at 77 and 81 Erin Ridge Drive, since at least 2013.
This month, complaints re-ignited in city council chambers after Erin Ridge resident Dustin Bizon asked councillors to consider raising penalties for vacant lots.
Bizon argued property owners in the area are seeing their property values decreae because of the "eyesore."
Although the Gazette could not reach Martins for that story, the land owner agreed to an interview after the story was published.
Martins said his troubles first started in 2007 during the global financial crisis. Things took a turn for the worse for him following a heated breakup in 2012 with his common-law partner. As divorce proceedings were under way, he said she seized his assets, which are still frozen until the results of an appeal that's scheduled for May.
He said he continues to struggle financially as he services a $1.8-million debt, and despite income from his rental properties, his bills and mortgage payments mean he is living on roughly $300 per month.
He said he isn't selling the Erin Ridge lots because he would have to provide all permits and liabilities and risk losing out on larger profits.
"I would love to have the homes built," he said. "I would love to finish up what I have started. That was my plan in 2007, to build eight to 10 homes a year (then) reduce it down to a manageable level. But the economic crisis, and then the breakup, the greed of the sharks, has put me in a place where I didn't strategize. I always thought I could recoup, but it hasn't (happened)."
There have been liens placed on his property, and it didn't help that in 2015 the city introduced a tax increase for undeveloped residential land – a move Martins says was "directly attacking" him.
The bylaw forced property owners who don’t develop their land after seven years to pay 25 per cent more in taxes. It was a move Martins believes targeted him and the five lots he owns in the city."By increasing the taxes by 25 per cent, they thought they would solve the problem," he said.
He added, "They passed this law to directly attack me."
But Bizon, who told councillors this month Martins was making the city look "foolish," said he doesn't buy Martins' story.
"I know for a fact that he has had multiple offers to purchase those lots prior to divorce, prior to whatever his story is," he said.
"He flat-out turned them down because he didn't want to. There's nothing he can do to change my opinion."
Martins told the Gazette there were also city bylaws he didn't know about regarding maintenance of his lots.
"I discover that even though it's undeveloped, I have to clean the snow from now on, which I didn't know for years. I actually didn't know," he said.
"I'm a happily married man ... for the second time in my life. I have a new child. I need to make a living, I need to work. But I can't. I'm stranded."
Other homeowners in the area could not be reached for comment.
