Displaced tenants call for work to stop at UBC construction site

Displaced residents of a subsidized housing com‐ plex in Kelowna, B.C, are calling on the city to issue a stop-work order on the University of British Colum‐ bia-Okanagan (UBCO) downtown campus con‐ struction project after they were forced to evacuate.

Eighty-four residents of the Hadgraft Wilson Place building were ordered by Kelowna's fire chief to leave their homes due to safety risks in their building last week.

"It has been very difficult, everybody is nervous. There is tension," said resident Monique Saebels, who shares an apartment on the fifth floor with her 89-yearold mother.

The apartment building, which houses people on low incomes and includes resi‐ dents with physical and men‐ tal disabilities, is just metres away from a construction site where developer UBC Prop‐ erties Trust has excavated an entire city block, several sto‐ ries down to build a four-lev‐ el underground parkade for UBCO's $263-million Down‐ town Kelowna project.

The excavation is the largest in the history of Kelowna, according to the city, and in recent months the project's impacts on neighbouring buildings have become apparent.

There are several visible cracks on the inside and out‐ side of the Hadgraft Wilson Place building which started to appear soon after the con‐ struction project began last November, according to resi‐ dents.

UBC Properties Trust, a private corporation owned by UBC, has not responded to questions by CBC News about the project. A spokesperson for UBCO said work on the site will resume this week, subject to the city's approval.

'Serious structural dam‐ age'

B.C. Housing said recent geotechnical and structural engineering reports showed a shoring wall at the univer‐ sity site is unstable, and a slip "could cause serious struc‐ tural damage" to the apart‐ ment building.

Ground shifting has also caused damage to other nearby buildings, according to the city, including the

Okanagan coLab and the Kelowna Royal Canadian Le‐ gion Branch.

Last week Pathways Abili‐ ties Society, which operates the apartment building, moved residents into three hotels in Kelowna. On Friday it informed tenants the evac‐ uation order was extended at least two weeks.

"Everybody is anxious," Saebels said. "We try to be positive and support each other."

The apartment building is less than one year old. Sae‐ bels said she and other ten‐ ants are worried they won't be allowed back home.

She wishes the city would put a stop to work at the con‐ struction site so that repairs can be made to the apart‐ ment building, making it safe for residents to return.

"I just find it really hard to stomach that they can con‐ tinue building," she said.

LISTEN | Hadgraft Wil‐ son Place resident calls on UBC to halt construction

Pathways Ability Society had been notifying UBC Properties Trust for months about the damage, according to executive director Charisse Daley.

"We hoped they would take some responsibility for the damage being done to the building and it is not being clarified that they are," she said.

Daley agrees that it's time for the city to step in.

"I'd like to see the con‐ struction stopped at the site," she said.

"Full stop. Let's get our building sorted out and then let's move forward."

Work resuming week

The city of Kelowna said in an email that work on the UBCO site was "voluntarily stopped" a number of times, but would resume this week.

"This is the first of many stages which will have to be taken to help stabilize things before moving forward on the project," a city spokesper‐ son wrote.

UBC Properties Trust has not spoken publicly about the impacts the construction site is having on neighbour‐ ing buildings.

CBC News has sent multi‐ ple emails and made phone calls to the company, none of which have been returned.

The company is actively promoting the project on its website, and recently posted about the scope of the devel‐ opement and the expected impact it will have on the area.

"UBCO Downtown will be an iconic landmark and inno‐ vation hub, breathing new life into the growing tech and culture districts of Kelowna, this and enriching the future of the region for years to come," the website reads.

None of the posts on the website mention the chal‐ lenges the company is having with ground shifting in the area or the impacts to neigh‐ bouring buildings.

A spokesperson for UBCO told CBC News the university is handling communications for UBC Properties Trust.

Spokesperson Patty Well‐ born said starting Tuesday, UBC Properties Trust would begin work to raise the exca‐ vation depth by spreading gravel throughout the site over the next two weeks.

"We are advised by pro‐ fessional engineers that the shoring wall remains stable and that raising the excava‐ tion depth will also mitigate future soil settlement on ad‐ jacent land, including Had‐ graft Wilson Place," Wellborn wrote in an emailed state‐ ment.

"The project team contin‐ ues to remain in contact with [Hadgraft Wilson Place], Pathways and the City of Kelowna regarding construc‐ tion activities."

The university and devel‐ opment company have a lot of work to do in repairing re‐ lations with their neighbours, according to Saebels.

"Care about our building and please reach out and help us. We need to know that they care and one day we can all go back to our home."