Property owners in the Seawatch subdivision in Sechelt are getting some of the answers they want from the district, but not all.
The neighbourhood on the shores of West Porpoise Bay has been the site of several sinkholes, some of which have been serious enough to close a road and make two homes unsafe to live in.
Andrew Yeates, Sechelt’s chief administrative officer, has drafted responses to series of questions put to council as a part of a special committee meeting on Seawatch in September.
The answers to the 17 questions include a listing of geotechnical and engineering reports and a summary of the recommendations from those reports. They also include an itemized list of the 38 reports done by Thurber Engineering since a sinkhole appeared in August 2015, at a total cost of $681,097.
To some questions, however, there are no answers being offered by district administration at this point.
On the question, “Did the district continue to issue building permits and occupancy permits after the sinkholes were discovered? If so why?” Sechelt is promising that “further information will be provided.”
The report also says some questions can’t be answered because of ongoing litigation, including one related to an expert hired by the Municipal Insurance Association to review the issues at Seawatch and whether the district was “aware of issues during the construction of the subdivision including poor engineering practices, poor construction practices, inadequate materials, etc.”
The report was due to go to Sechelt council for discussion at its regular meeting Nov. 15, after Coast Reporter’s deadline.
