Displaced tenants call for work to stop at UBC construction site
CBC
Displaced residents of a subsidized housing complex in Kelowna, B.C, are calling on the city to issue a stop-work order on the University of British Columbia-Okanagan (UBCO) downtown campus construction project after they were forced to evacuate.
Eighty-four residents of the Hadgraft Wilson Place building were ordered by Kelowna's fire chief to leave their homes due to safety risks in their building last week.
"It has been very difficult, everybody is nervous. There is tension," said resident Monique Saebels, who shares an apartment on the fifth floor with her 89-year-old mother.
The apartment building, which houses people on low incomes and includes residents with physical and mental disabilities, is just metres away from a construction site where developer UBC Properties Trust has excavated an entire city block, several stories down to build a four-level underground parkade for UBCO's $263-million Downtown Kelowna project.
The excavation is the largest in the history of Kelowna, according to the city, and in recent months the project's impacts on neighbouring buildings have become apparent.
There are several visible cracks on the inside and outside of the Hadgraft Wilson Place building which started to appear soon after the construction project began last November, according to residents.
UBC Properties Trust, a private corporation owned by UBC, has not responded to questions by CBC News about the project. A spokesperson for UBCO said work on the site will resume this week, subject to the city's approval.
B.C. Housing said recent geotechnical and structural engineering reports showed a shoring wall at the university site is unstable, and a slip "could cause serious structural damage" to the apartment building.
Ground shifting has also caused damage to other nearby buildings, according to the city, including the Okanagan coLab and the Kelowna Royal Canadian Legion Branch.
Last week Pathways Abilities Society, which operates the apartment building, moved residents into three hotels in Kelowna. On Friday it informed tenants the evacuation order was extended at least two weeks.
"Everybody is anxious," Saebels said. "We try to be positive and support each other."
The apartment building is less than one year old. Saebels said she and other tenants are worried they won't be allowed back home.
She wishes the city would put a stop to work at the construction site so that repairs can be made to the apartment building, making it safe for residents to return.
"I just find it really hard to stomach that they can continue building," she said.
