Property owners in the Seawatch subdivision in Sechelt have been trying to get the ear of election candidates, and their efforts have also prompted a response from the district administration.
One home on Gale Avenue North has been declared uninhabitable and the occupancy permits have been denied for another as a result of sinkholes and related geotechnical issues going back several years. The district has also closed some sections of road. A new sinkhole was discovered last month.
A statement released this week, accompanied by full page ads in local newspapers, says, “The District of Sechelt cannot accept the argument that when a private sector venture falters, the cost should be borne by the Sechelt taxpayers.”
It also says Sechelt approval of the subdivision was based on “a geotechnical report from a qualified professional” and the developer’s “signed letters of assurance, certifying that the development had been properly constructed.”
The statement goes on to say that “the most comprehensive solution was estimated at around $10 million in 2015.
“The District of Sechelt does not have $10 million available to spend while attempting to recover the costs from the responsible parties,” the statement says. “To borrow the money would require the assent of all the residents through a District-wide referendum or through an Alternative Approval Process. The principal and interest payments on a $10 million debt would be about $700,000 per year for 20 years. This would require an immediate 8.5 per cent property tax increase.”
Several Seawatch property owners were front row, centre at a Sept. 27 forum for mayoral candidates Al Holt, Darnelda Siegers and incumbent Bruce Milne.
The forum was organized by a group of young voters in an effort to explain their concerns to the candidates and get answers on issues of particular interest to residents under 50, and Seawatch came up in one of the questions from the floor.
The candidates were asked, “What would you do to help the families that have been affected by the sinkholes? This has been going on for a very long time and they’re in danger every day.”
Holt responded by saying, “I’d deal with it. It’s just that simple. From what I’ve heard and what I’ve read it’s something nobody wants to deal with, and you can’t treat people that way, you just can’t.”
He didn’t offer any details about how he’d deal with it.
“As an individual, I’d love to go in and fix it now,” said Siegers, who’s been on both the councils that have been in office since the sinkholes began appearing. “As a member on council, I’m representing 10,000 people in the community… Our insurance company is the one who dictates to us, in a lot of cases, what we can and cannot do. If we were to not follow the guidelines of our insurance company, then they would walk away and you the residents would be responsible for remediation in that area.”
Siegers was in the middle of saying that she also feels that the time has come for the district to sit down with their insurance company, the Municipal Insurance Association of B.C., and “get this to a resolution” when she was interrupted by a man in the crowd.
“It never should have happened,” the man, who did not identify himself, said. “There were geotechnical surveys in place and it never should have happened.”
Those comments were echoed by Chris Moradian, one of the property owners behind a recent letter to mayor and council urging them to find a resolution.
“That development was condemned from the beginning,” he said. “That entire area was designated back in 1993, by Golder and Associates, who were your geotechnical engineers, who said that area is hazardous and should not be developed.”
At that point Milne stepped in, saying, “We have different opinions on this and there’s reason why these are being discussed in court… There’s been a lot of legal work done in the last four years on that issue, and the issues of responsibility and the District of Sechelt and the insurance is something that I don’t think is appropriate for this discussion tonight, but I can tell you that council is taking this very seriously, as a very tragic and difficult issue.”
Milne was then interrupted by a woman who called out, “You sleep at my house tonight and see how you feel.”
Milne responded with, “If the risk is what you think it is, you shouldn’t be sleeping there tonight.”
Which is when Moradian spoke up again. “The only party who has not showed up at the settlement hearings for the Storeys [the family forced from their home by a 2015 sinkhole] has been the municipality and their insurance [company]. Everybody else has been at the table except you guys.”
Milne called that claim “Absolutely inaccurate.”
“That’s a false statement. Just 100 per cent inaccurate,” he said, before the moderator moved on to another topic.
According to Sechelt officials a hearing on the legal case on Seawatch, involving some property owners, the developer and the district, will begin March 23, 2020.
