OSOYOOS TIMES-May 12, 2010

By Laurena Weninger – Osoyoos Times

If all goes as he hopes, Farouk Shah, owner of the Cactus Ridge Retirement Residence on Main Street, will have an occupancy permit for his development in the very near future.
“The municipality is doing what they can,” Shah said, adding he is also working hard to deliver some necessary details about the project to the Town of Osoyoos so the development can get the permit and open its doors to residents.
At Osoyoos town council’s May 3 committee of the whole meeting, concerns were brought up about seniors who have sold their homes and are waiting to move into the facility.
Some are staying in hotels or with families, council heard.
Those seniors who are staying in hotels while waiting for the facility to open could face difficulties retaining their temporary accommodations once the high tourist season in Osoyoos arrives.
Shah said there had been some confusion on his part about what the Town would require completed before issuing an occupancy permit for the development.
The building is ready to be lived in, Shah said, but the Town won’t allow occupancy yet.
“That’s the unfortunate part,” said Shah, pointing out he had hoped for a temporary or limited occupancy permit until he could tend to the other details the Town requires.
“The building is safe. I think the municipality wants to see the whole picture.”
According to a staff report from Steve Shannon, Osoyoos’s community planner, that whole picture includes a six-metre road dedication for the frontage of Swan Crescent, registering a covenant with the provincial Land Titles and Survey Authority restricting the age of the building’s occupants to 50 years of age and older, submitting a design drawing for the widening of Swan Crescent including a retaining wall and completing the required construction.
The developers also have to provide the Town with the relative number of supportive housing units there will be on site compared to the number of assisted living units, provide details about an application to the Assisted Living Registrar and provide a firm start date for completing the majority of the landscaping.
“I didn’t think an occupancy permit would be hinged on these things,” Shah said, calling the process “grinding wheels.”
But it’s not going to be much longer, he said.
Shah planned to deliver design documents for the outstanding matters to the Town this week and hoped that would satisfy some of the Town’s requirements for issuing an occupancy permit.
That’s the Town’s understanding too.
“(T)here were some unresolved issues remaining with the developer before a building occupancy permit can be issued, that are now being expedited cooperatively with the Town,” stated Alain Cunningham, the Town’s planning and development services director.
In December, Gerald Rutberg, general manager of the building, and his wife, Jan Rutberg appeared in front of Osoyoos town council to give an update on the development’s progress.
At that time, they said they were hoping the facility would open its doors to tenants by Feb. 1.
But in March, that target date was changed to May.
Rutberg said there are 92 units in the facility and each will be rented out on a month-to-month basis.
As of March, there were six units spoken for, but those waiting to move in have all made temporary arrangements until the units are ready.
Pat Toth, from Calgary’s Alliance Capital Corp, the contractor behind the retirement residence, said he understands at least one of the parties waiting to move into the residence is living in a hotel and others have made other arrangements.
But he said those residents did understand in advance they wouldn’t be able to move into the facility until everything was approved by the Town and no fixed date was set for when people could move in.
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