Photo: District of Summerland
Summerland council gave the go ahead on Tuesday night to address a property that continues to be in non-compliance with the district’s building bylaws.
Structures have been built on a property at the south side of Hillborn Street since 2005, and all have been without a building permit or the required building inspections.
On Tuesday, staff requested council to approve a Remedial Action Order for the construction of a new cherry sorting facility and occupancy without a permit. If changes aren’t made, the district is looking to disconnect water and electrical services.
According to a staff report, site visits to the property as well as multiple letters of notice have been sent to the owners in attempts to resolve the non-compliance issue of occupancy, specifically with the packing plant building that was constructed in 2021.
Further illegal occupancy of the new cherry sorting facility has been identified by staff.
To date, fines placed against the property owners total a balance of $25,500.00, which remain unpaid and outstanding.
A Remedial Action Order was approved by council on Sept. 26, 2023, for one building, which required the removal of all items, securing both floors of the building from access and the disconnection of power.
On Nov. 10, 2023, this work was confirmed to be completed by the owners and subsequent inspections have shown that the temporary farm worker accommodations have remained unoccupied. Some storage of tools still occur in the lower level, which workers access.
Further work has not been done by the property owners to resolve the non-compliance issue.
Later in November of 2023, council passed a motion deferring the decision to place a Notice on Title until April 30, 2025, to allow the landowners an opportunity to develop a plan to bring the building into compliance or demolish it.
Coun. Adrienne Betts commented that this a really complex case, given the issues with the past seasons of cherry crop while having to finds funds to make the appropriate renovations.
“I’ve got a little bit of a concern about how to approach that, insofar as council has been quite lenient and trying to give the opportunity to this next generation to take over the business and do right by the property, and then they were slammed with actually, two consecutive cold weather events that affected their crops,” she added.
It was pointed out by Coun. Richard Barkwill that they had the serious discussions two years ago with the owners, yet none of the undertakings and promises that were made at the time have been addressed.
“At some point enough is enough when it comes to health and safety questions,” he added. “It’s almost negligence of council not to address health and safety concerns.”
Coun. Martin Van Alphen asked whether the 30 days that would be issued to the owners would be enough time to bring the property up to standard, which staff said would be difficult, but they have been aware of it for years.
Council unanimously approved for staff to issue the remedial action order.