This shows the outside of Janusz Grelecki's Kaleden home in April 2022. Not much has changed since then.

Image Credit: Submitted/Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen

Janusz Grelecki has a long history of accumulating massive amounts of what many people consider junk and piling it in and around the places he lives.

That led to a July 2021 order by Kelowna city council for him to demolish his house on Gibson Road and restore the property to a natural state. Not only is there an accumulation of building materials and vehicles on the property but the house itself has been deemed unsafe.

Janusz Grelecki at his Kelowna home in 2021.

(ROB MUNRO / iNFOnews.ca)

At the same time the City of Kelowna was cracking down on him, iNFOnews.ca has learned Grelecki was getting orders from the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen to clean up another 45-acre property in Kaleden he shared with his common-law wife.

The City of Kelowna started dealing with Grelecki as far back as 2004 when he was stacking materials where he lived at 225 Gibson Rd.

Grelecki moved some materials off that site but simply relocated it a couple of blocks up the street to the property he came to own at 424 Gibson Rd.

Eventually a contractor was hired to haul garbage away from 225 Gibson Rd.

READ MORE: iN PHOTOS: Owner of ‘unsafe’ house in Kelowna will fight the city in the hopes of saving his home

In 2013 he moved in with Marta Miles who owned property at 135 Partington Road in Kaleden and they moved back and forth between both houses.

Much of the time since then, he has continued with his habit of accumulating what some would consider junk at both properties.

Kaleden home, April 2022

Image Credit: Submitted/Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen

He told iNFOnews.ca that he was stockpiling building materials in and around the Kelowna house in order to renovate it.

It’s not clear why he was amassing piles of old vehicles, appliances, bricks, tires and other assorted junk at the Kaleden property.

A Freedom of Information application by iNFOnews.ca resulted in 165 pages of documents from the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen that included hundreds of photographs of junk scattered throughout the 45-acre Kaleden property.

The regional district opened a file on the property on Sept. 14, 2018 and started a new file July 28, 2021, just two days after Kelowna city council ordered Grelecki to demolish his Gibson Road home.

Kaleden, April 2022

Image Credit: Submitted/Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen

The first inspection report in the Freedom of Information package is dated Sept. 2, 2021 and was written by Bylaw Enforcement Officer Don Moore.

“On arrival at this property I observed numerous derelict vehicles at various locations on this large property,” he wrote. “I observed that there are accumulations of old appliances, tires, lumber, plastics and a wide variety of other apparent scrap materials and items on the property.

Kaleden, April 2022

Image Credit: Submitted/Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen

Moore told Grelecki that he could not “add to the mess already on his property and he must remove the non-permitted derelict vehicles and accumulated garbage and waste materials.”

On Sept. 21, Grelecki was given 30 days to have the property cleaned up.

Kaleden April 2022

Image Credit: Submitted/Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen

It was in September 2021 that Grelecki filed a lawsuit against the City of Kelowna trying to get the demolition order of his Gibson Road property stopped. He withdrew that suit in August 2022 but it was successful in stopping the city from enforcing the tight timelines it had set on having the debris removed, the house demolished and the property restored.

Moore filed another inspection report about the Kaleden property on Oct. 15, 2021, when Grelecki was on site.

“He was engaged in sorting items for removal from the property," Moore wrote. "While I was there, a local towing firm removed one derelict vehicle from the property. A second derelict vehicle had been prepared for removal and was to be taken later the same day. The property owner told me that more than 100 old tires, at least 10 fridges and several other items have been removed. He told me that he is working to bring the property into compliance with the bylaws as fast as he can.”

Kaleden April 2022

Image Credit: Submitted/Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen

At one time, Moore was visiting the property and taking photos twice a week.

Numerous reports over the following months showed an ongoing pattern. Grelecki did not seem to be adding to the mess but he also seemed to be spending more time moving stuff around than he was removing it.

An Oct. 3, 2021 report by bylaw officer Ken Stockmann sheds some insight into Grelecki’s plans.

“He was generally quite friendly and personable and showed me a few areas of the property while telling me his plans for the future, which included removal of some junk and vehicles while keeping other ‘useful’ materials, getting a permit to build a large barn for his animals (currently pigs but he would like other livestock) and, in the meantime, building some temporary and/or portable shelters for them. I simply let him talk and show me around without providing any specific opinions about what is or is not ‘useful.’”

Kaleden April 2022

Image Credit: Submitted/Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen

On Oct. 29, Grelecki wrote to ask for an extension to the cleanup deadline, even though that was already past the 30-day time limit.

“I have been trying very hard to get the work done,” he wrote. “I need help with some of the chores and it is very difficult to find good help on this remote property but I am pushing my physical limits hard to get it done. I promise that I will continue to comply with these orders but I need TIME.”

Kaleden April 2022

Image Credit: Submitted/Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen

In an April 14, 2022 email, bylaw enforcement coordinator Roza Aylwin told Moore that Grelecki has been “ordered to clean up by the end of the year."

Only two other reports are on file between then and the final inspection report in the documents provided to iNFOnews.ca. The final report is dated June 15, 2023.

“I saw nothing to indicate that any further apparent waste or stored materials have been brought onto this property since my last inspection," Moore wrote in that report. "Some of the materials have been moved and sorted but all appears to be old, previously photographed items.

“This property continues to have very large amounts of various used building materials, automotive parts and pieces, old tires and many other items and materials, at locations all over the property.

“A total of eight derelict vehicles remain on the property.

“The property remains in apparent contravention of land Use and Untidy/Unsightly property bylaws. This property will continue to be checked periodically until bylaw issues are resolved.”

Kaleden April 2022

Image Credit: Submitted/Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen

The photos accompanying that 2023 report show piles of materials similar to the 2022 photos shown here. The newer ones are just not as clear.

The regional district did issue a fine to Grelecki in 2018.

"We’ll continue to pursue an enforcement process until the property is brought into acceptable compliance," Mark Petry, the regional district's building and enforcement services manager said in an email to iNOFnews.ca last month.

As for the Kelowna property, Grelecki filed a complaint against the City of Kelowna to the BC Ombudsperson last fall, which was after he dropped his court challenge.

READ MORE: City of Kelowna being investigated by B.C. Ombudsperson

The city is still waiting for the results of that investigation before starting the clock ticking, again, on its demolition order.

Kaleden April 2022

Image Credit: Submitted/Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen

The other pattern of behavior common to both properties is that Grelecki moved in with the women who owned the homes and gained, at least, partial ownership.

Both women have since died.

Miles, the owner of the Kaleden property, had given Grelecki half ownership as a joint tenant before she moved out in 2021, accusing him of abusing her.

READ MORE:Kelowna man accused of abusing former partner won't get her property

She changed her will in favour of her sons before she died in January 2022. Grelecki went to court to try to gain sole possession of the land.

He lost.

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