Residents at the 80-unit Terra Ridge complex in Williams Lake say they have formed their own communications committee to set the record straight.
Just over a year ago on Sept. 29, 2023 their complex made provincial news when the city of Williams Lake declared a state of local emergency for the entire complex and put four units under do not occupy orders.
The units were built in the early 1990s.
At issue was the slow-moving historical Hodgson slide in the area that had caused some interior damage to four of the 80 units.
While the state of local emergency was lifted in April 2024, the four units still have 'do not occupy' signs on them, and the owners are living elsewhere.
"We want to let the community at large know that this is still a very viable, engaging community to live in," said committee chair Terry Shepherd. "Our properties are very much intact and it's a great place to live, especially for seniors."
Strata chair Brad Follack said since the state of local emergency was declared, all 80 unit owners have been asked to monitor their properties.
"Not one person has mentioned any problems," Follack told the Tribune. "There have been no cracks in the drywall, nothing. If you walk through here today it looks no different than it did two years ago."
Shepherd said they have not had any response from provincial or municipal government with regards to financial assistance for the Terra Ridge seniors who are on a fixed income.
The strata has experienced an increase in annual insurance coverage from $125,000 to $425,000, which divided by 80 averages $5,000 per unit, plus each owner needs to have individual insurance coverage.
No Canadian insurance company will cover them, the committee members said, so the strata has a policy with Price Forbes and Partners in London, England.
Their property values have also decreased.
"The response by government was a knee-jerk reaction to something that has been here for years and years and years and has cost us a lot of money," Shepherd said of the initial state of local emergency. "We expect government to now own up and take some responsibility."
Initially the strata had a preliminary assessment done by Octo Engineering Inc.
In its report, Octo referred to the unsafe or uninhabitable units, stating habitation was not recommended but went on to note it may be acceptable for the current occupants to stay, with a bi-yearly inspection program, provided they acknowledge and accept associated risks.
City of Williams Lake chief administrative officer Gary Muraca said the city's own report done by Watson overruled the Octo report which is why the do not occupy orders remain in place.
Nevertheless, Muraca said the city is still advocating on Terra Ridge's behalf.
The city received funding through the Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness (EMCR) for a geotechnical study.
"The province was very supportive because we didn't have a whole bunch of data from most recently," Muraca said. "They supported us because we didn't know if it was a slow-moving slide or if it was sudden because we saw four of the units that were really effected. We wanted to do our due diligence and the province supported it."
Muraca said staff and council met with representatives from the Ministry of Housing and the Ministry of EMCR and Premier Eby at the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention in September 2024 to talk about the potential of some help for the Terra Ridge residents through the Rental Protection Fund, an arm of the housing ministry.
City representatives at the meeting told the ministry by continuing monitoring and mitigation work to prevent underground water issues that are contributing to the problem, it is within the realm of possibility that people will be able to continue living in their properties well into the future, Muraca said.
"We followed up with a letter about a month ago to say we were following up and would like to have a meeting, and we are waiting for them to respond. We are doing our best to advocate for funding for those residents because we can appreciate they have investment in these properties."
Emergency Management and Climate Readiness does not cover private infrastructure, only public infrastructure, Muraca explained.
"That is one of the things we were saying to the province is, 'that makes zero sense.' If that was a neighbourhood we would be able to get coverage, but because it's a strata it's owned privately and EMCR would say it should be insured."
Muraca said there has been a stall because of the provincial election in October and the city will be reaching out to the province again this week.
Members of the Terra Ridge communications committee have been researching the history of Hodgson slide and the complex through the Tribune's newspaper archives and reading through the various geotechnical studies done over the years.
A 2015 study done by Golder Associates indicated that since 1993, the Hodgson Road Landslide had moved episodically, at irregular intervals, with a total recorded displacements in the range from .3 m to .4 m.
The Octo Engineering report said Westrek reported ground movement of over 0.5 m between 2019 and 2021.
One of the recommendations at the time, which Golder noted had also been suggested in 1999, was that the "landslide can be treated by de-watering with pumped wells being an economical and flexible treatment that can be incrementally adjusted to fit changing needs."
Committee member Bob Stevenson would like to see that happen in Williams Lake and pointed to a report from the city of Quesnel indicating since 2018, a full system of pumps and drains has been removing water from the ground in the Quesnel area.
Carol Dicecco, another member of the committee, who has been doing some of the newspaper archives research moved into Terra Ridge with her husband Archie two years ago.
She said she has no plans of moving out.
"We love it here," she said. "When neighbours go away we all keep an eye out for each other's places."
