By Dan Walton
There’s still no consensus over whether or not Park Place was ever unsafe because of an earthquake in 2011, but the dozens of residents who were warned to leave the housing complex over three years ago could finally return home as soon as May or June.
In 2013, the residents of Park Place were led to believe their homes were unsafe to live in because of the 2011 earthquake, after cracks were spotted in the building.
“We left because an engineer told us he couldn’t guarantee the building would be safe,” said Linda Gergely, Park Place Strata Corporation office manager and resident.
An engineering report completed in December by Canadian Wetlands Inc. claims the building has been safe to live in for some time, and that the 2011 earthquake caused little more than cosmetic damage.
“Nothing unsafe about this building,” said David Perehudoff of Canadian Wetlands. He quoted the strata $400 per unit to allow residents to return home.
“The building is structurally and based on the latest Geotech report, safe to move back into,” said David Craig with Hillside Engineering Services Ltd., who was hired by Canadian Wetlands.
However, Gergely said the strata’s board of directors didn’t trust Perehudoff’s proposal and all seven members voted to reject it.
“The proposal was inadequate to the requirements,” she said.
Then Greyback Construction approached the board before getting hired to draft its own proposal to repair the building. That proposal was submitted on Jan. 9 and the board is currently reviewing it.
When contacted for comment, Greyback’s general manager Matthew Kenyon didn’t have much to say about his company’s role with the strata.
“Greyback is currently not involved in Park Place,” he said in an email. “We have only been asked to provide some preliminary budgets to do various repairs and maintenance.”
Although Greyback’s proposal is still under consideration, “I hope that the report says that the leak can be fixed and we can go back home,” Gergely said.
If contractors can be scheduled in a timely fashion and have work start as soon as possible, residents could hopefully return home by May or June, Gergely said.
She said when the time comes, the act of giving the keys back to the owners will only be symbolic as owners have always had access to their units, however they didn’t have assurances of safety or access to electricity or running water.
It’s not known whether leaks in the 27-year-old water pipes were caused by the 2011 earthquake or not, but Gergely said they need to be repaired for the building to be habitable again. Furthermore, Fortis BC won’t restore power until a proper inspection has been completed by an electrician.
Should board members soon decide to approve Greyback’s proposal, repair work could begin as soon as February, Gergely said.
“As long as that works with Greyback’s schedule.”
