By Dan Walton
Eighty-three condo owners in Oliver went more than a year without legally having access to their homes.
After the first and second phases of Casa Rio Developments had been completed, residents had access to public roads by way of a corridor that runs through a subsequent phase of the project. However, that final phase didn’t end up getting developed as part of Casa Rio. Instead, that piece of land – along with a slice of the access road on top of it – was sold to another developer in November 2015, which threw dozens of homeowners into legal limbo.
Hammering out a new arrangement was a timely and expensive endeavour between Casa Rio’s strata corporation and the neighbouring property owners. But the homeowners caught in the middle weren’t stranded, they simply used the corridor on a de facto basis.
Shawn Baenziger from Kelowna is the owner of the neighbouring property, and he said the Town didn’t inform him of the overlap when he originally purchased the land. It wasn’t until he tried to subdivide his parcel when he found out about an oversight, that his property was underneath the only artery that 83 of Casa Rio’s owners were allowed to use.
“So the Town said, in order to subdivide, you have to get all the access issue in order,” he said.
A survey of the land had to be conducted and a lengthy series of negotiations were required before a settlement was finally reached, said Baenziger.
“It was a costly thing and it was very stressful for the owners of the strata corporation.”
During their AGM last month, Casa Rio owners agreed to a settlement and a method of payment. Expenses were not shared publicly.
Casa Rio resident Ruth Desautels said the issue was successfully resolved.
