City Hall is threatening
court action to tear down South Pattaya’s Boutique Hotel nearly a year
after discovering the owner illegally added four floors and violated
building codes with an under-construction annex.
Phasakorn Channgam
City officials will go to court to force the demolition of South
Pattaya’s Boutique Hotel nearly a year after discovering the owner
illegally added four floors and violated building codes with an
under-construction annex.
Deputy Mayor Verawat Khakhay, city council President Tawit Chaiswangwong
and city engineer Samran Phanpreecha inspected the Soi 17 hotel site
July 3 and heard complaints of area residents about compressor noise and
wastewater releases.
The officials were exasperated at what they found:
construction on a second Boutique Hotel building was still proceeding,
despite repeated stop-work orders from city hall.
Owned by Jomtien Holiday Co., managed by Alongkorn Saewang, the Boutique
was found last autumn to have added four floors to its permitted seven
without permit or inspection. Additionally, the company was building a
second tower, leaving less than the required six meters between
structures, a violation of city building and fire codes.
The Building Control Office ordered work stopped on the new building and
for the company to prohibit use of the illegal floors in existing hotel.
Both orders went unheeded, as did a second stop-work order issued a
month later.
On January 30, the city Engineering Office condemned
the building, ordering Jomtien Holiday to demolish the structure within
60 days. Not only was that order ignored, but construction continued as
before.
Khakhay said the only recourse left now for the city to file a lawsuit
to get a court order for the owner to demolish the building. If that
order is ignored, Pattaya will send the complaint to the Chonburi
governor’s office, which can give the city authority to demolish the
building on its own and bill Jomtien Holiday.
During their latest inspection, officials also
learned Alongkorn had bought several other buildings in the Chaimongkol
Temple neighborhood and was illegally renovating them. City hall now
plans to take actions against those structures as well.
