Charred remains of Penticton heritage home have to go
The owners of a Penticton heritage home that was destroyed by fire earlier this year are now under the gun to clean up the site.
City council at its meeting Tuesday will be asked to give the owners of 434 Lakeshore Dr. until July 11 to haul away rubble, level the site and make it safe. Failure to do so could see the city undertake the work itself and apply the costs to the property’s tax bill.
The 110-year-old Warren House, which had operated most recently as a bed-andbreakfast, was destroyed March 7 in a spectacular blaze caused by a gas explosion.
Two months later, the city’s bylaw department received its first complaint about the site’s unsightly state and the potential health hazards presented by the ruins.
City staff last spoke to the owners on May 20 in an effort to get the site cleaned up but apparently didn’t get very far.
“Staff were informed that the owners had been awaiting approval of an insurance claim for eight weeks and were unwilling to spend additional funds on the property until that process has concluded. The owners advised that there were currently no re-development plans for the property at this time,” wrote Duncan Scandrett, the city’s licensing and property use inspector,
in his report to council.
“Given the uncertainty on when the site will be cleaned up and the deemed hazards identified, staff are proposing to utilize powers in the Community Charter to ensure the property is brought into a conforming state as soon as possible, by passing resolutions deeming the property a nuisance and a hazard and passing a remedial action order requiring the clean up to occur within a specified time period.”
Warren House was built in 1912 for J.J. Warren, president of the Kettle Valley Railway, and was included on the Canadian Register of Historic Places.