Property developer Milan Mrdjenovich’s company has been fined $8,000 after work continued at a Yellowknife site for more than a month without a permit this summer.
Between June 3 and July 8, the City of Yellowknife alleged workers kept building a new four-storey apartment building on Hagel Drive even though the development had been referred to an appeal board.
Mrdjenovich admitted guilt. On Friday, a judge accepted a joint sentencing submission in which Mrdjenovich and the city proposed an $8,000 fine.
“At this point it’s been a costly project. $10,000 justification report, $20,000 for the appeal, for lawyers and that whole process, and now an $8,000 fine. It’s getting quite expensive, so it is what it is,” Mrdjenovich said outside court.
The city could have sought a fine in excess of half a million dollars.
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Mrdjenovich’s company technically committed two separate offences – developing without a permit and refusing to comply with an order – that each carry a penalty of up to $100,000 under the municipality’s bylaws. Each can also incur additional $5,000 daily fines, which the city could have sought for up to 35 consecutive days, meaning extra penalties of $175,000 per offence.
City lawyer Rylund Johnson said the decision to settle for $8,000 was based on earlier precedents.
“Up until 2022, when we amended the zoning bylaw, all of our offences were maximum $10,000. There’s a clear precedent [in which another company was fined in similar circumstances] where their fine was $2,000,” Johnson told Cabin Radio.
“Essentially, quadrupling that original fine makes this a new precedent where the city can move forward with that updated sentencing range.”
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Not many housing developers are active in Yellowknife. City council has repeatedly urged that more housing be built to tackle what has been characterized as a critical lack of available homes.
Mrdjenovich is overseeing multiple developments. The appeal regarding Hagel Drive, where the development will result in 24 units, was ultimately rejected in its entirety by a three-person panel.
In 2022, Mrdjenovich had said he was “not going to go through this any more” after a succession of his projects were referred to the appeal board. Over the past five years, two appeals have resulted in amendments to Yellowknife projects but all other appeals have been rejected by the board.
“This doesn’t happen anywhere else. It only happens here,” Mrdjenovich said at the time, adding he would leave Yellowknife and develop in Iqaluit instead.
Asked on Friday if his outlook had changed, given multiple developments remain in progress, Mrdjenovich said: “A lot of these projects were already in the pipeline. We’re just going to finish up and see what happens.”
