The owners of a downtown Williams Lake lot, where a building was destroyed by fire in 2019, want proof it needs to be remediated.
In September 2023, council voted in favour of the city imposing remedial action at 94 Oliver Street, the site of the former Diamonds and Dust Entertainment Lounge Ltd.
The move came after staff reported to council the fill that was placed at the property as a temporary solution in 2019 has degraded.
Jessica Boate, who owns the property with Gail Boxeur, appeared by video as a delegation during the regular council meeting Tuesday, Oct. 24.
“As it stands right now there seems to be no evidence whatsoever to the claims from the city staff that anything is unstable,” Boate said.
“I had an engineer report and I don’t see anything in there that it was a temporary fix.”
She also told council the property will be sold as of Nov. 1, 2023, if all goes as planned.
City manager of planning and development Gary Deane said the original intent of the fill was for it to be at a certain level and it has sunk down below that.
“It’s no longer functioning for the purpose that it did,” he said.
“We offered this to you before, if you wanted to come in with an engineer’s design how to stabilize it that we would look at it.”
Deane also said he has sent several emails to the owner offering the city’s assistance to resolve the issue and to date has not had anyone take him up on the offer.
Boate replied that was not true.
“I have had a couple of conversations with you guys and I was waiting to have a conversation here,” she said.
She also said she has not seen any photographs or proof that the fill is sloughing off.
“It’s sprinkles and butterflies as far as I’m concerned, I don’t see any proof,” she said.
Council voted - four in favour and two against - to defer the item for two weeks so the owners could meet with staff at the site.
The fire, deemed suspicious in nature, destroyed several buildings in the downtown area on Oliver Street. So far, one building, Ming’s Restuarant, has been rebuilt.
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