Two years after the devastating McDougall Creek fireplace burned down the vast majority of Lake Okanagan Resort, displaced residents battle to rebuild as pink tape delays restoration.
Heather Ormiston known as her second-floor condominium unit, overlooking Okanagan Lake, her retirement plan. Now, all that is still of Ormiston’s condominium is a barren patch of rocks and gravel.
“It was an funding property — each greenback of our financial savings went into shopping for this for our future,” stated Ormiston.
The hearth destroyed 90 per cent of the resort, and dozens of displaced residents, together with Ormiston, are nonetheless caught in limbo. Unable to start rebuilding, they face pink tape that has saved them from shifting ahead.
Maria Hart, one other condominium proprietor, says, “It’s so irritating. We’re nonetheless paying condominium charges and taxes, some persons are paying mortgages, and we don’t have a house we’re paying for. We now have a lot cash tied up in that.”
The stalled restoration is taking a monetary and emotional toll on the residents.
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If the stalemate continues, the BC Owners Condominium Affiliation warns the dispute might find yourself in courtroom.
“After a 12 months it normally means the events affected must go into courtroom to both get the courts to order the repairs to resolve this drawback,” stated Government Director of the BC Condominiums Affiliation, Tony Gioventu.
Pissed off by the shortage of motion, Ormiston questions why the federal government isn’t stepping in to pressure the resort homeowners to revive utilities.
“For the federal government to push us into litigating over one thing they need to be imposing is despicable,” she says.
However BC’s housing minister, Ravi Kahlon, says the province’s fingers are tied, calling it a personal matter.
“We really don’t have any skill to compel the homeowners to adjust to the strata council. We’ve advisable that the people impacted might want to resolve this by means of the courts,” stated Kahlon.
Lake Okanagan Resort was bought by a purchaser from China in 2014, and the present homeowners didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Kahlon provides, “On this case, an abroad proprietor has management, and we don’t have the flexibility to intervene from the province.”
Because the residents proceed to attend, they’re left with extra questions than solutions, questioning if they’ll ever see the assist they should rebuild their properties and their futures.
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