Sewer dispute stops swanky subdivision
Building permits are no longer being issued by the local government responsible for a swanky subdivision south of Penticton due to ongoing problems with the private sewer utility that serves residents.
As first reported this week by CBC Daybreak South, the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen has effectively halted new development in Heritage Hills, which lies above the east side of Skaha Lake, at the direction of the B.C. Environment Ministry.
The ministry has long-standing concerns with the Vintage Views sewer system, which was commissioned about 20 years ago and serves several communities in the Heritage Hills area. The system includes a treatment plant that discharges effluent into septic fields.
“The ministry issued a pollution prevention order in August 2021 (that) is currently in effect against Vintage Views. It prohibits the connection of new residential units to the existing sewage system until adequate system capacity and sufficient financial security has been established by the ministry,” it said in a statement.
Ministry staff “have issued multiple warnings and administrative penalties to the system operator who has consistently ignored provincial regulations,” added the statement, and “new connections to the septic system have been put on hold to address system overflow.”
The ministry’s most recent inspection of the Vintage Views sewer system was conducted in June and turned up 18 infractions of the Environmental Management Act, according to the report.
Violations ranged from the system operator’s lapsed certification and lack of required capital funding to replace the entire system if it fails, to grape vines being planted over a septic field and failure to sample effluent as required.
The inspection report reviewed the operation for the period of August 2020 through May 2022 and noted there had been at least 26 “discharge related exceedances” over that timeframe. The report also recommended an unspecified financial penalty.
Johnny Aantjes, who owns the Vintage Views sewer system and is the developer behind Heritage Hills, told the CBC the Environment Ministry moved the goalposts on him after a 2019 system failure by asking that he re-register the system, which had 110 connections at the time, in accordance with newer, stricter regulations.
“They’ve come up with an idea that there’s only 40 or 50 homes that can be on this system. When I took it over, there were 70 homes registered to the system, 80 homes registered to the system. We are well within our permitted zone – well within it,” said Aantjes.
He suggested the cost of building a new septic field as required by the ministry would be in the range of $700,000 to $1 million, but doesn’t see the need to spend the money.
“It does not need to be fixed. This is not reasonable what’s happening to these people,” said Aantjes.
CBC also interviewed Arielle Pecnik, whose family purchased a bare lot in Heritage Hills last year with the intention of building a new home. She said her plans were put on hold indefinitely after learning the RDOS was no longer issuing building permits for the community.
Pecnik said there were no signs of trouble in advance of the purchase and that she was personally assured by Aantjes that although the sewer system had failed in 2019 there were no longer any concerns.
“At the time we bought our lot, we were assured all of that had been remedied, everything was fine, it was working properly and there were no issues,” said Pecnik.
The RDOS said in a statement Friday it hasn’t been tracking the number of rejected building permit applications for Heritage Hills, although the CBC estimated there are 10 to 40 buildable lots for which owners can’t obtain permits.