Four years after the B.C. community of Lytton was virtually razed to the ground in a devastating wildfire, the community celebrated a major milestone in its efforts to rebuild.
Community leaders held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the first of the village’s municipal buildings to be replaced: a new public works building.
“Public works is so important to our town, our municipality, and we need a place for our employees to work that’s safe, that’s secure, and it really shows the rest of the town, the community, that we’re proud,” Lytton Mayor Denise O’Connor said.
“It’s a tangible symbol to show that we are coming back and we are moving forward and Lytton is going to be a town where people will want to come to.”
The modular building was funded with $1 million from the province and another $52,000 from the village.
“Public works is a fundamental component of local government and so supporting the public works building means that the city or town can get back to normal more quickly and support residents in the return,” B.C. Minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness Kelly Greene told Global News.
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“The more municipal infrastructure and support there is for the community the better, more resilient the community is.”
While the project marks a key milestone, progress on rebuilding the community has been slow.
The village still lacks key resources like a grocery store and a pharmacy, and only a fraction of residents whose homes were destroyed have been able to rebuild and move back so far.
“We need the village to grow; this a start. It’s something to see, and look forward to. Maybe a store, get it going in Lytton here, get a main street going,” said Lytton resident Dean Adams.
O’Connor said that while the community is grateful for the province’s support on the public works building, some in the community were disappointed there wasn’t more offered for displaced residents.
“The homes that are built here are almost all through insurance, and I do know that as much as people were hoping that governments would step up and provide money to build houses, that’s not a reality at all,” she said.
Greene said that no one had anticipated how complex the rebuilding process would be for the community, and that the province had provided $40 million so far.
“That money is earmarked and has been spent in things like site remediation, clearing away debris, support for archeology — because there’s a significant archeological component here — and then, again, rebuilding the services that people need to be able to come back home.”
The village, meanwhile, is making progress on other key structures.
O’Connor said officials hope to see construction on the new Village Office begin this fall, and that they have also submitted a funding application for a new permanent fire hall.
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