Two years after the devastating McDougall Creek fireplace burned down nearly all of Lake Okanagan Resort, displaced residents wrestle to rebuild as pink tape delays restoration.
Heather Ormiston known as her second-floor apartment unit, overlooking Okanagan Lake, her retirement plan. Now, all that is still of Ormiston’s apartment is a barren patch of rocks and gravel.
“It was an investment property — every dollar of our savings went into buying this for our future,” mentioned 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 apartment proprietor, says, “It’s so frustrating. We’re still paying condo fees and taxes, some people are paying mortgages, and we don’t have a home we’re paying for. We have so much money tied up in that.”
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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 may find yourself in court docket.
“After a year it usually means the parties affected will have to go into court to either get the courts to order the repairs to resolve this problem,” mentioned 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 power the resort homeowners to revive utilities.
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“For the government to push us into litigating over something they should be enforcing is despicable,” she says.
However BC’s housing minister, Ravi Kahlon, says the province’s arms are tied, calling it a personal matter.
“We actually don’t have any ability to compel the owners to comply with the strata council. We’ve recommended that the individuals impacted will need to resolve this through the courts,” mentioned Kahlon.
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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, “In this case, an overseas owner has control, and we don’t have the ability to intervene from the province.”
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Because the residents proceed to attend, they’re left with extra questions than solutions, questioning if they may ever see the help they should rebuild their houses and their futures.
2:04Firefighter rebuilding following McDougall Creek wildfire
