A family forced to flee from their Sechelt home when a sinkhole opened on their property is now suing the district, the developer who built the home, various geotechnical and engineering firms, an insurance company and the realtors who sold the family their “dream home,” which later became a nightmare.
A total of 29 defendants are named in the lawsuit, which seeks relief for loss and damages. None of the claims has been proven in court.
“Our claim alleges responsibility by several parties and we feel very strongly that our claim will succeed,” said Erin Storey, the Seawatch subdivision homeowner who launched the civil suit along with her husband Ross.
Ross and Erin said they bought their “dream home” in 2010 after allegedly being assured by geotechnical reports, the developer Concordia Seawatch Ltd., realtors and the District of Sechelt that previous sinkhole issues found during development of the area off North Gale Avenue had been addressed appropriately.
The homeowners also hired their own geotechnical firm to do an assessment before they were willing to sign on the dotted line.
“Our geotech report said there was low to negligible risk of a sinkhole ever happening again,” Erin said.
The couple were looking for a new home with a view and said, with the assurances given, they felt confident in their decision to move into the home in the Seawatch subdivision.
“We couldn’t have felt more confident,” Ross said.
“The pre-existing problems were all taken care of in a competent manner and the likelihood of reoccurrence was negligible based on how they had dealt with the pre-existing problems.”
In 2012 a sinkhole opened near a neighbour’s property on the roadway and the Storeys started to worry.
“It was awful,” Erin said. “All the neighbours were worried. All of us were concerned.”
The District of Sechelt addressed the sinkhole, and things were quiet for a while in the subdivision. Then in November 2014, the Storey family started seeing signs of movement in their home.
“The basement floor had dropped about an inch. Doors stopped shutting properly. There were cracks in the walls, cracks in the ceiling,” Erin said.
The Storeys opened up a claim with their insurance company and said that someone came by to inspect the issues in January 2015. The inspector allegedly said the issues were all related to normal settling.
“So we were going through the process of saying it was not satisfactory and then the sinkhole happened,” Ross said.
“There was evidence of what was to come.”
Ross and Erin, their six-year-old twins Callum and Brynn and eight-year-old son Joffre were forced to leave their home in the Seawatch subdivision on Feb. 26, when a sinkhole about five metres deep opened steps from their front door.
Within hours of the occurrence, the family was told by the District of Sechelt they had to move out of the home for health and safety reasons.
The Storeys said they were offered no help or assistance.
“The situation is simply that there aren’t any mechanisms in place for anything other than personal, charitable assistance,” Sechelt Mayor Bruce Milne told Coast Reporter this week.
“There are no municipal or provincial or federal systems in place or programs in place that they would qualify for.”
The family ended up spending the next two weeks with a neighbour before they could find a rental in West Sechelt for $1,700 a month. In addition to paying rent, the Storeys must also still pay their $1,850 a month mortgage for a home they can’t live in.
And earlier this year Erin tearfully paid a $4,500 tax bill, minus about $500 for garbage and sewer services waived by the District of Sechelt.
Milne said the local services were all that could be waived.
“In terms of taxes against property, they’re not directly linked to services and they are not something that we even have the right to waive,” Milne said.
The family feels there is no help available and nowhere for them to turn to fix their $630,000 dream home that is now twisted and cracked and settling into the sinkhole. Insurance would not cover the damage as “underground water and soil damage” is not included in the homeowner’s policy, Erin said.
“Most people who hear this story from us assume insurance is covering it. We get that all the time, but it’s not,” Erin said
“When you have an actual problem this big and to be told ‘sorry, there’s an exclusion for that,’ it’s absolutely shocking.”
The District of Sechelt is investigating multi-million dollar fixes to public roadways and services affected by the sinkhole and underground soil disturbances at the Seawatch subdivision, but those fixes don’t touch private property and won’t help the Storeys.
“It’s no different than any other disaster or tragedy that strikes property owners, whether it’s a fire that might be caused by electrical. The municipality doesn’t build a new home for somebody who had a fire and they’re not going to be rebuilding private property in this case. Other taxpayers, in fact, probably would have some reluctance,” Milne said.
Seeing no where else to turn the Storeys have now filed a civil lawsuit against all of the parties involved, seeking relief for loss and damages.
