A fire that ripped through a Stony Plain townhouse development has officially been ruled suspicious Friday.
The town said a private fire investigator had been brought in to work with the town’s fire department.
“The investigation process is underway. They’re working as diligently and as quickly as they can,” fire chief Trevor Mistal said,
Officials said flames gutted 16 townhouses and damaged another 14 late Wednesday night.
The homes were not occupied and were part of the Sommerville Springs development that’s been plagued with problems.
The town’s manager, Tom Goulden, said they’re becoming more frustrated with the people behind in the development.
“What began as an interesting project slowly became a site that challenged our organization and residents,” Goulden said at a press conference.
He explained portions of the development were up for judicial sale and it’s now being resolved, meaning it will soon be under new ownership.
The development has changed hands multiple times and the town said it hopes the new ownership group will share its values of pride, safety, and commitment to quality construction and development.
“Those associated with the site to this point simply have not shared [our] values or shown any form of commitment to those values or this community,” Goulden said.
He said the town has also undertaken engineering assessments and used the developer’s required credit line to pay for specific upgrades needed to bring services up to standards.
With files from Amanda Anderson
