Lake Okanagan Resort condo owners need help two years after wildfire
Almost two years after the McDougall Creek wildfire tore through Lake Okanagan Resort, condo owners are hoping the government will step in so they can start rebuilding by getting water to their homes.
Heather Ormiston owned a condo in the resort along with other members of the KAS 520 strata when the wildfire destroyed 90 per cent of it, since then the Chinese company 1782 Holdings Limited that owns the resort has been absent which has stalled any progress on rebuilding people’s homes.
“There were a number of residents out there where this was their primary home, and so they've been displaced. We know of one already that has had to foreclose on her mortgage because she cannot pay rent and continue to make her mortgage payments,” Ormiston said.
The strata is planning to meet with Regional District of Central Okanagan director Wayne Carson and Conservative MP for Okanagan Lake West-South Kelowna Dan Albas and BC Conservative MLA for West Kelowna-Peachland Macklin McCall to work out a plan to restore water to the community.
Ormiston is hoping B.C. Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon will join them.
“Regardless of whether this water treatment utility is publicly owned or privately owned, and whether or not those owners are local or overseas, the provincial government retains oversight responsibilities to make sure that that utility continues to service us B.C. citizens,” Ormiston said.
The resort is the water utility provider, and the company isn’t reachable and has left the resort in a state of disrepair, including the water system. The strata came up with a plan with Carson and Albas to ask for funding from the government so the condo owners can put in their own water system without the resort’s involvement.
“In a nutshell, it's for the provincial government to fund us building our own water treatment plant, and then it gets basically authorized over to the regional district to manage,” she said.
The strata is asking the government for approximately $3 million for water and sewer systems, a water license and for ownership to go to the regional district once the system is complete. Ormiston said the strata already owns land suitable for the infrastructure, has quotes for the project and has looked into its feasibility.
Housing Minister Kahlon has said it’s a private matter between the resort and the strata, and the provincial government can’t do much to help. Ormiston said that the provincial government ought to have the authority to ensure that British Columbians have access to water, regardless of whether a private utility provider like Lake Okanagan Resort is creating obstacles or absent.
“The Lake Okanagan Resort has a history of not following orders and throwing up all kinds of roadblocks and delays and outright lies to create delay tactics,” Ormiston said. “You are a housing minister... How many people have to be homeless in order for the government to step in and do something?”
iNFOnews.ca has tried to contact the resort numerous times throughout the past two years and has never received a response.
Ormiston said the resort claimed the water system was destroyed in the fire, but when she went down to look with her own eyes it appeared untouched.
“We went out and had a visual inspection of it, and the fire never went near that water treatment plant building. So we don't know if there's damage to the infrastructure underground, but Interior Health has ordered the Lake Okanagan Resort to do a post-fire assessment, and they have refused to comply with directives,” Ormiston said.
Timeshare owners at the resort have faced similar problems when trying to contact the resort to get any answers about what is going on.
Ormiston said it is far past the time for the government to step in and use what powers they can to help people who are in the dark because a foreign investor has left them holding the bag after a disaster.
“You'd think that the provincial government that authorizes these water utility licenses would have those things in check. If they don't, then that's a policy gap that puts us in this shitty situation that we have found ourselves in. But that's for them to have to go back to the frickin' drawing board and figure that shit out,” she said.
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