Janusz Grelecki standing on what was left of his deck in 2021.

(ROB MUNRO / iNFOnews.ca)

It's been almost three full years since Kelowna city council ordered Janusz Grelecki to tear down his house on Gibson Road in Rutland.

It was on July 26, 2021, that the city gave him 14 days to apply for a demolition permit followed by a timeline to remove the house and restore the land to a natural state.

“We expect to finalize a contract to do the work required by the remedial action order later this week,” Lance Kayfish, the Kelowna's risk manager said in an email to iNFOnews.ca, March 18. “We could begin the work as early as next week.”

The 2021 demolition order came following a staff report to city council saying the “nuisance property” had “numerous life safety concerns for the property’s occupants, adjacent property owners and the general public.”

READ MORE: Kelowna city staff wants home with 'life safety concerns' torn down

City staff had dealt with 24 complaints over the previous 11 years and tried unsuccessfully to get Grelecki to clean up the property.

For his part, Grelecki told iNFOnews.ca in 2021 that he was amassing building materials in order to renovate and expand the house. He just needed a bit more time to get the work done.

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

At that time, when he gave iNFOnews.ca a tour, the house was crammed with building materials, an 24-metre long deck missing most of its flooring hung about 10 metres above the sloping back yard. Parts of the roof were open to the elements.

This open roof is considered a safety hazard, not only for the owner but for the neighbours.

(ROB MUNRO / iNFOnews.ca)

The outside was cluttered with old cars, machinery and untidy stacks of building materials.

Grelecki appealed directly to city council and lost. At that hearing, a retired bylaw officer told council he started dealing with unsightly premises complaints filed against Grelecki as far back as 2007 at a house Grelecki rented a couple of blocks away, before moving into 424 Gibson Road in 2010.

In the summer of 2022, Grelecki withdrew a lawsuit against the city to get a demolition order stopped but it did stop the city from enforcing tight timelines to have the house demolished and the property restored.He followed that up with an appeal to the BC Ombudsperson.

While no formal investigation was conducted by the ombudsperson, that appeal delayed the demolition for months.

The city was also concerned that pursuing the matter might make Grelecki homeless but found out he had a second house in the South Okanagan so they finally started the process of removing the house late last year.

Grelecki co-owned the house on acreage in Kaleden. His partner left him, accusing him of abuse. After she died, Grelecki tried to get her half of the property away from her sons but lost in court.

This is Grelecki's Kaleden home in 2022.

Image Credit: Submitted/Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen

The Kaleden property has also been the subject of numerous unsightly premises complaints to the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen. Grelecki has been ordered to clean up that 45-acre property but he seems to have mostly ignored those orders too.

READ MORE: Kelowna man ordered to demolish derelict house faces similar charges at second home

While the City of Kelowna resumed the removal process late last year, staff said it would take some time to prepare for the actual demolition as they had to do things like removing and storing any personal items Grelecki may have left behind, deal with hazardous materials and salvage some of the building materials.

The city will hire a demolition contractor in the coming days.

All the costs of the demolition and restoration work will be billed against the title to the land.

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