It’s an amazing and disturbing sight all at once: Hundreds of pounds of garbage, from a broken bicycle to old furniture to motor-oil containers to black plastic bags galore.
In a case of “out of sight, out of mind,” all this garbage is located on private land, under a dilapidated barn, just half a kilometre from where thousands of vehicles pass by every day.
The location: Near Mill Creek, close to McCurdy Road and Highway 97 in Kelowna.
Along with that massive pile of rubbish, at least two homeless camps and other piles of refuse, albeit much smaller, were also spotted on that section of land. There are two private property owners involved in the issue.
Notably, the barn is owned by the City of Kelowna. Spokesperson Tom Wilson said he doesn’t know why bylaw officers have allowed debris to accumulate in the barn.
A woman who hikes along the hillside regularly says the place has become a dump.
“I did call the city about this and bylaw said that because it was private property that they didn’t have any jurisdiction,” she said. “I can’t imagine that you would own a piece of property like this and be OK with the amount of garbage. I haven’t been down there. I think it would probably be a little scary.”
Global Okanagan went down to have a look.
Two males were seen hunched over in front of a makeshift shack — oblivious of our presence. About 100 metres away, closer to the creek, was another camp, with a Gerry-can feet from the water and a grocery cart in the creek. Two bikes were hidden in the bushes. There was no one around.
About 100 metres away is another camp — a fifth wheel surrounded by garbage. Area businesses say the camps are attracting undesirables — that equipment is going missing — and they’re finding needles on their properties.
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The City of Kelowna said in an email to Global Okanagan that it’s aware of what’s going on. According to the city, bylaw services can’t go onto private land and remove people, but the RCMP can when acting on behalf of the landowner who requests their removal. Further, the city added that bylaw will issue tickets to the landowner if it’s deemed to be a zoning misuse or if the property is unsightly.
Also, the city said bylaw has active files on this property and that letters were sent out last week to the property owner after bylaw enforcement officers attended and took pictures.
The priority for bylaw officers has been debris and garbage on private property, according to Wilson. Bylaw is working on removing garbage from the barn in the coming weeks.
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