EDMONTON –
Volunteers are offering their expertise to help a Spruce Grove haunted house get up and running in time for Halloween.
Trades workers descended on Spruce Ridge Road Friday morning, prepared to bring the temporary haunt at #287 up to fire and building codes.
“The city was kind of asking us to meet some requirements almost because we occupy people. Even (if) it’s a short-term duration — going through a haunted house for anywhere for three to five minutes — we’re still allowing people to enter the building,” explained homeowner Lindsay Allen.
He says the city told him to remove the roof part of the haunt, so it no longer needed to be classified as a structure, and to take down the tarps that constitute the haunted house’s walls because they were a fire hazard.
As of Thursday evening, Allen estimated three quarters of the work had been finished and just a couple hours — and extra hands — would be needed Friday.
“It’s going to be a little different effect, but we’re going to do our very best to make it very special for people.”
‘WANT TO GET THROUGH THIS PROBLEM’
The renovation directions from the city came out of a meeting between officials and Allen earlier Thursday.
The parties had been going back and forth since the start of the week when an official complaint prompted the city to look into the haunted house, opened for its fifth year, more closely.
For several days, a sign hung outside the Spruce Ridge Scare has read, “Temporarily closed due to a Karen and Karl.”
Volunteers working to get Spruce Grove Scare ready for Halloween weekend. (CTV News Edmonton)
“It started out as a simple noise complaint, which turned to we didn’t have a business licence — and we are trying to raise money for a charity,” Allen added. “Then it turned to a building code regulation, then it turned to a fire code regulation, then it turned to a permit regulation. So it just kept escalating so we couldn’t catch up to the battle, really. We tried our hardest to comply with the city, but they just seemed to keep changing what the problem was.”
Allen said he believes he and the city reached an agreement that, if he can finish the handiwork on time, will see the haunt open for the weekend.
“Both the city and us definitely want to get through this problem and we want to have a nice clear sail next year.”
‘WE WANT TO PACK THIS STREET LARGE’
The process of finding a solution with the City of Spruce Grove, however, has been damaging to the family’s food bank fundraising efforts, Allen noted. The haunted house has been closed for half of its two-week cycle.
“It’s tremendous, what they’ve done… We have no donations,” Allen told CTV News Edmonton.
“Probably thousands of pounds and hundreds in donations that we now have to try to make up on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.”
The Spruce Ridge Scare is posting updates to its Facebook page.
Allen was hopeful it would open Friday evening.
“Bring all your food donations out and help support us large over the weekend. We’re looking for a great weekend, we want to have a good time, we want all your kids to have a great time.
“We want to pack this street large.”
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