Unsafe and unsightly

While the demolition work is done, neighbours on Cedar Avenue and The Boulevard are complaining that the property remains covered in debris and poses a danger because a surrounding fence is inadequate to keep local children out. "I think the City should do something to ensure that there's a proper look to it," says Larry Kendall of Cedar Avenue, who lives across from the lot. "It doesn't enhance the view for neighbours and for the neighbourhood."

Howard Hoppenheim, who has a view of the lot from the rear windows of his home on The Boulevard, describes the site as "an absolute mess … It's dangerous … Besides looking absolutely a mess — that's for sure — and not pleasing for us to look out our windows and see it … to me it's a real safety problem … "The key thing, if I had young children, is that the fence they had put up, those green boards, are all apart and anybody can have access to the property," adds Hoppenheim. "The cement foundation is protruding, and when it rains, there are puddles of water and a false illusion that it's stable. But a small kid could drown in there."

In 2002, a Quebec Superior Court judge ordered the property's owner, Shatwa Al-Musawi, to tear down the controversial structure she had erected, unless she obtained new construction permits from Westmount, which she did not.

The judgment was the result of a lawsuit filed by Hoppenheim and several other residents of The Boulevard against the owner, and the City of Montreal, whose lawyers at the time were representing the former Borough of Westmount.

Before starting construction, Al-Musawi had demolished an older house on the site, which was officially classified by Westmount as having heritage value. Judge Claudine Roy said the demolition and construction work that were carried out by Al-Musawi contravened the plans she had submitted and that had been approved by the borough.

Westmount, the judge said, had a right to revoke the building permits because the house originally on the site was demolished illegally. In their lawsuit, the residents held Al-Musawi responsible for obliterating their view from the mountainside.

They also held Westmount officials partly responsible, alleging that they failed to control the situation. Among other things, plans for the two-storey house had called for a nine-car garage. Before the case was settled, Westmount was also being sued by Al-Musawi, who made her own claims of negligence against Westmount.