City of Kelowna eyeing possibility of demolishing dilapidated home

Following a decade of complaints from upset neighbours, a home on Gibson Road in Kelowna could soon be demolished.

On Monday, Kelowna city council voted to demolish the problem property after learning staff have made at least two dozen trips to the home in failed attempts to get the owner to comply with city bylaws.

“Council supported a staff recommendation for a remedial action order, which lets the city take a number of steps towards the potential demolition of the house,” said Ryan Smith, director of planning and development services at the City of Kelowna.

That remedial action order may end a lengthy neighbourhood nightmare for some residents who live within eyesight of the dilapidated home at 424 Gibson Road.

Plywood covers the front door, construction mess is strewn everywhere and the driveway is adorned with a forklift and two porcelain toilets.

The mess in front is just a taste of what’s in the back yard, where old lumber sits, presumably to finish the house.

It’s easy to see why no one would want to live by this for 10 days, let alone 10 years.

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“This is a safety hazard, this is a fire hazard,” next-door neighbour Dawna Lemky told Global News.

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Lemky, who has lived right next door for 20 years, is empathetic to the owner’s plight but says the city’s remedial action order has been a long time coming.

“I feel sorry for him, I’m sorry that it has come to this, but I feel he’s had due time to correct the situation,” Lemky said.

However, another neighbour wants to make sure the property owner has been given due process.

“I don’t necessarily disagree with the decision,” said Paul Davies, who lives two houses down from the home.

“But has he been given the opportunity to react in a timely fashion, in an appropriate fashion?”

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“We’ve been out there at least 24 times, probably more than that over the years,” said Smith.

City staff maintain the owner has been given plenty of chances to comply.

“We have given the owner a number of opportunities, to both study what’s wrong and what needs to be done to fix it,” Smith said frankly

“All of those efforts have been incomplete or not undertaken at all.”

Global News tried contacting the owner by knocking on the front door, but no one answered.

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According to the city, property owner Janusz Grelecki now has 14 days to file a letter of appeal.

If no appeal is filed, the City of Kelowna may just take a wrecking ball to the property, level the lot and hand the bill to the owner.

“If we have to,” said Smith, “that’s a measure we are prepared to take.”