Wendy's Legal Bills to Save Her Home & Property

Wendy Richards, our lovely Manotick neighbour, had a good chunk her property destroyed by a developer that bought the neighbouring property. The developer, without surveys, permits, locates or permission, proceeded to encroach on Wendy's property and removed 15 of her mature trees. He then proceeded to  excavated the property to within 12 inches of her home. Because of the incline between properties, the excavation left a 12 foot drop from Wendy's house to the new ground level. In fact, they dug so close to the house, the footings of her foundation were exposed. 

Wendy contacted the City and the Ministry of Labour who began proceedings against the developer starting with the Ministry of Labour immediately shut down the site and the  City issuing orders to remedy an unsafe building, a Geotechnical Engineer's Assessment and to provide a Structural Engineer's Design for remedial measure which has yet to be completed, despite the required action deadlines.   

The drop  from Wendy's house to the new ground level that was excavated was so extensive that when the Fire Department was driving by, they recognized the severity of the situation and went directly to the site. The fire department called the City to come with a structural engineer to secure the foundation temporarily. 

In the end, the developer has yet to comply with most of the City orders and Wendy is still unsure about the integrity of her home.

This particular developer has a complete disregard for procedures and has a reputation with the City of Ottawa (Police, Fire, By-law) and the Ministry of Labour for not complying with orders. This has left Wendy in the position of hiring a lawyer to fight the battle against the developer and ensure that the structural integrity of her home is permanently repaired and property and trees and are replaced.  

As a close  knit community in Manotick, people have been asking how they can help Wendy as they are also equally shocked by the complete lack of respect by the developer. 

Hence  the inspiration for this gofundme page. It's to help Wendy cover her her legal bills as now she faces a difficult, lengthy and expensive battle to ensure her home stays safe.  Meetings with the lawyer have already begun, so so the funds will be used immediately and support her throughout the litigation.