A Salmon Arm property will have a notice on title after the owner constructed a retaining wall their engineer wouldn't sign off on.
Among the hearings scheduled for the evening portion of city council's June 23 meeting was a Section 57 Notice on Title for a property in the 4000 block of 72nd Avenue NE. In this case the hearing was for the property owner, giving them an opportunity to provide further input before council's vote on whether or not to proceed with the notice.
City planning and community services director Gary Buxton explained the notice on title was related to a concrete retaining wall constructed as part of a building permit.
"It was required to be constructed under the supervision of a structural engineer – that apparently was not done and so the engineer was unable to provide the required letter of assurance," said Buxton.
Further detail is provided in a staff report, which explains how during construction of the concrete wall, the professional engineer responsible informed the city and owner they would not be able to provide their letter of assurance. In an email dated Aug. 10, 2021, the engineers noted deficiencies with the wall's construction, which was carried out "without our guidance or recommendations being followed." As a result, the city issued a stop work order the following day.
"On January 24, 2023, the building inspector gave the owner 30 days to rectify the issues with the retaining wall by either obtaining a professional engineer’s approval for the existing wall or demolishing the retaining wall and re-building it under the supervision of a professional engineer."
On Oct. 21, 2024, the city building inspector met with the owner to discuss the retaining wall. The staff report notes "no visual deficiencies with the retaining wall were visible at the time of this meeting." At that meeting, the owner indicated they did not have the financial means to rectify the issues at that time, and did "not intend to in the near term."
On Oct. 23, 2024, the city sent a registered letter to the owner advising the city would be proceeding with the notice, which would "provide a warning to perspective buyers of the bylaw infraction."
The opportunity to speak to the issue brought only silence, with Mayor Alan Harrison concluding the hearing, stating "I think we’ve given reasonable opportunity for the homeowner to speak to us so we'll proceed."
Coun. Kevin Flynn commented the situation "is exactly why we have a notice on title."
"It’s quite clear the applicant has neither the means nor the desire to fix it, and if somebody tries to buy this in the future with the notice on title, they’ll know going in there’s an issue and they’ll deal with that at that time. So I think this is a fair way to handle this…," said Flynn.
Harrison added the notice would be removed should the owner "decide to comply and it’s inspected…"
