Inadequate water supply leaves new Revelstoke home in limbo

A new home on Farrell road may sit vacant for the foreseeable future as the Florida-based owner wrangles with red tape.

Anthony M. O’Rourke’s building permit for 906 Farrell Road was rejected in July last year, when it was revealed that the water flow to the property, and that neighbourhood just north of the Revelstoke Railway Museum, was inadequate for fires and therefore did not comply with the city’s building bylaws.

Despite this, the house was built and now sits unfinished as its owner waits for the city to find a solution to the potential $761,000 fix.

Development in the Farrell Road neighbourhood is stalling due to insufficient fire-flow. Photo: From council documents

O’Rourke is 70 and although he now lives in Miami, he is a local – born and raised in Revelstoke. He visits Revelstoke annually and bought the plot on Farrell Road to build a home, one that he may potentially retire in.

During a phone interview, O’Rourke told the Mountaineer that the city had not indicated there was a problem with the waterline when he bought the property and in waiting for a building permit, his contractor had been given verbal permission to go ahead last spring.

“Nobody ever told us this was going to be an issue until we really got started and the walls were up,” O’Rouke said. “We were damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”

Construction work continues on 906 Farrell Road. Photo: From council documents.

His contractor Bill Black said the chief building inspector at the time told him to go ahead with the footings and cross walls while they waited for the permit, which he said was normal.

“Out of the seven houses I’ve done, up until that house, I haven’t had one [a building permit] before we started, always had permission from the building inspector,” he said. “That’s the way it was, it was common practice.”

Black said the building inspector came and checked the footings were installed correctly and it appears that the building permit was ready to go, just waiting on the HPO (insurance from the Homeowner Protection Office) when the city’s maintenance foreman noticed the waterline size did not fit in with regulations.

The building permit was denied and O’Rourke was left with either paying the early estimated water costing or letting his building go.

“I had the option of paying the $135,000 (for the water) or letting the building deteriorate and go through and tear it down, and start over again,” O’Rourke said. “At that point I would have lost $150,000. I said I’m going to protect my assets.”

Work continued on the house and O’Rourke hired an attorney.

Since construction continued, the city issued a stop work order. Construction stopped for 55 days last summer but then continued as O’Rourke’s engineer had advised that the structure was fragile.

“We started after Labour Day. I knew that we needed to have the building sealed before winter came,” O’Rourke said.

City of Revelstoke staff do not agree with O’Rourke on the state of the building.

“The property owner and their structural engineer have stated that once construction was started they were required to continue or the construction materials would be jeopardized,” manager of development services Dean Strachan stated in a Mar. 8 report to city council.

“However, only a limited amount of the material in question was installed at the time the order was issued as only the first floor wall panels were in place.”

An idea of City of Revelstoke fines. Photo: City document

Since work had continued, the city issued municipal tickets for failure to obey an order to cease work. Black and his assistant each received one at $1,000 each. If paid within 30 days, the fine drops to $500, which O’Rourke said he did. And work continued.

“It’s an unusual circumstance, in that the mass majority of stop work orders that we apply, are complied with,” Strachan said in a discussion with the Mountaineer. “It’s unusual to see a continuation of work after.”

Construction work continues on 906 Farrell Road. Photo: From council documents.

When the Mountaineer emailed Strachan about the contractor’s verbal agreement with the city to begin construction initially, his response stuck to the rules.

“Approval to construct is through the issuance of a building permit,” Strachan said. “No building permit has been issued, no approvals have been given by the city.”

At the latest city council meeting on Mar. 8, city councillors passed a motion to register a notice on O’Rourke’s title. This means if O’Rourke looks at selling the house, a buyer can see what the outstanding issue is — in this case the house has not been constructed with a building permit.

“The purpose [of the notice] isn’t to penalize,” Strachan said. “It’s to ensure any potential purchaser, or anyone interested in the property is aware of the situation. It’s to protect the community and the city from liability.”

The notice will be removed once the building permit is approved, but that is dependent on the water flow issue. The area needs to be upgraded, and similar to the recent petition Big Eddy residents participated in, local Farrell Road residents may need to pay.

906 Farrell Road, six months after a building permit was rejected. Photo: From council documents

A preliminary design of Farrell Road estimated the cost at $220,000 but with more in-depth investigation, deficiencies across water, sewer, road and stormwater infrastructure were found. Construction estimates to fix this sit at between $697,000 and $761,000.

As development continues in Revelstoke, Black said its future will see more issues like this.

“There’s not an easy solution to it,” Black said. “This isn’t going to be an isolated incident either, this is going to happen quite a lot. Because of the new fire-flow requirements, and an aging infrastructure. Just kind of the growing pains.”

Infrastructure deficiencies in Revelstoke have been found on LaForme Boulevard, most of Clearview Heights, Oak Drive, the KOA campground, the Monashee Estates development at Revelstoke Mountain Resort, the airport and parts of Upper Arrow Heights. The City of Revelstoke have identified some of these in the 2015-2019 water capital plan.

Black said the mayor and the city have been working to find a solution for O’Rourke.

“Really hoping it will be resolved soon,” Black said. “It’s been dragging out for quite a while. [Mayor Mark McKee is] optimistic but I can understand the city’s position there too. It’s not an easy one, it’s a difficult situation.”

Potential funding for Farrell Road waterline

The city has a budget of $100,000 for the water portion of this project. Money may also come from other funds in the budget that are allocated to upgrades and an LSA (local service agreement) which sees the Farrell Road neighbourhood pay.

There are 14 parcels that would be part of the LAS process.

An idea of Farrell Rd parcel tax costs. Photo: From council documents

“City staff believe that a parcel tax is the fairest means of financing the suggested works, approved through a Local Area Service (LAS) process,” director of engineering and development services Mike Thomas said in his Feb 16. report.

An idea of the total amount these residents would pay annually by parcel tax, to cover the 20 year loan, is approximately $36,000 per year.

At the meeting on Feb. 23, city council referred the project to finance to review for alternate funding sources.