Council Meeting

Thank you.

Good evening.

I'll uh call the council meeting for March 4th, 2025 to order.

Just uh a comment, folks.

If you're gonna have a discussion more than willing to have it, just do it outside and come back in so we can all pay attention to the matters at hand.

Thank you.

Uh we'll begin with the territorial acknowledgement that we recognize the Lekwungen speaking people known today as the Esquimalt Nation and the Songhees Nation, and that their historic connections to these lands continue to this day.

This evening we'll hear from the public during the public participation period and the question period portions of the agenda.

If you wish to provide comments uh on uh to council regarding the development variance permit for 406 Creed Road or One Hospital Way, there will be a specific time to speak uh to these applications when they are considered on the uh council agenda.

Any item related to the agenda itself can, of course, be addressed in the public participation period.

For members of the audience, the council chamber is a safe, respectable, and inclusive space.

All members of the audience are asked to refrain from clapping, cheering, or openly expressing your opposing opinions when others are speaking or when they are done speaking.

To provide comments virtually during the public participation period or to ask questions during the question period, you will see a QR code or a URL on the live webcast stream screen or a URL on the town's website under live webcast.

Scan the QR code or type the URL in, and a form that pops up, you can type in your comment or question to read uh out aloud by uh at the appropriate time by a member of our webcast team.

You will need to provide your name and your street name on the form if you are speaking or if you are speaking in council chambers.

Public participation comments are limited to five minutes for each speaker and must be related to items on the agenda.

The question period is open to any question and is limited to two minute seats for each speaker.

You will be timed.

This meeting will be recorded by participating in this webcast.

You are consenting to being recorded, and the recording will be available on the town's website for future access.

I'll now move to uh the approval of the agenda.

And before we go there, I know that we had penciled in councilor Rogers.

One of your items, does that stand or do you wish to withdraw that?

Yes.

I'll withdraw.

Thank you.

So the item uh as in front of you on the agenda 13B is removed.

Uh so I'm looking for a motion to approve the agenda, please.

So moved.

Moved by Councillor Lemon, seconded by Councillor Rogers.

All those in favor.

Any opposed?

Seeing none opposed, motion carries.

Uh and we have minutes from the council meeting on the 18th of February and special council meeting on January 28th.

Are there any errors or omissions?

If there is none, I'd be looking for a motion to approve A and B, please.

Move by Councillor Brown, seconded by Councillor Kwalich.

All those in favor.

Any opposed?

Seeing none opposed, motion carries.

Occasionally I'll uh if you can raise your hand electronically, Councillor Matson, so I hopefully my weak eyes can see it on the screen, then um I'll know you have a question or want to make a comment.

Uh mayor's report.

Uh I just wanted to announce uh for our businesses in the area that there is a business mixture.

It's got a bit of a hook in it for Thursday night.

We're out to get your input for our official community plan.

So if you own a business and live in View Royal or own a business and don't live in View Royal, you're welcome to the mixer on Thursday at the at the Victoria Scottish Cultural Center.

And we look to see you there.

Just also wanted to say I'm very proud of the actions that council has taken in a leadership role over the past little while.

Everything from uh long before the federal government and the provincial government did to uh adjust our buying practices to focus on buying Canadian uh and uh any other country except the United States if that comes uh through that we need something.

Um it is of course on everybody's mind, and I'm glad to see a good turnout tonight because I know um uh Donald was uh addressing the joint session of Congress this evening.

Um some of the work that I think council has done sets us up to be successful in uh inspiring local businesses to be successful in a time where they really need to be.

Uh so I'm very proud of the work that council uh has done and the motions that uh members of council have brought before us.

I think it chose uh for a very small uh but mighty municipality we're carrying our leadership weight.

Uh and I think that brings us down to public participation period.

So again, if I could reiterate that anybody that has a particular uh comment that they want to make uh that's going to be covered within the agenda, um we could refer those ones.

But if there's anybody in council chambers that wants to make a comment to council, uh feel free to come up to the podium uh and just activate the microphone when you're ready.

No rush, take your time, deep breaths.

Not everybody addresses council every day.

Uh and uh when you're ready, uh please begin.

Should be a toggle rate on the microphone stand itself.

Okay, there we go.

Great, thank you.

Uh I'm my name's Chris Smith.

I live at 2319 Chilco Road, Unit 5, part of the Stonecliffe Townhouse Complex.

And before you is our our recommendation for the tree removal situation.

I and uh first of all I want to thank thank you for a very very thorough report.

You took all of our concerns into consideration and you incorporated them into the options and recommendations which we greatly appreciate.

I wanted to make one comment on the two options.

Option number two was what we had originally proposed in our in our um original presentation, which spoke to a one for one-for-one credit and $500 per tree.

But also included in that a little further on in our original presentation was credit for some saplings that have shown regrowth towards all the trees.

On option three, which is another great option, you've you've reduced the size from two meters down to one meter for replacement trees, which is which is a great consideration.

And then in the middle of the report, you did send your arborist, which was fantastic, and did a thorough job on site.

So the two elements weren't kind of put together, but I want to just comment on option three, since they're asking for 14 replacement saplings.

If we could get credit for those nine that are showing and commenting as healthy uh regrowth so that our net would be five.

Just a little uh um uh and also knowing uh we respect that you had asked for three years of needs, care and attention to get these to health.

Um, you will have water bags uh available here that we could use, which we would fully support.

Um so I just wanted to add those comments to that.

Great, thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

Appreciate it.

Anyone else in council chambers which to address council on anything related to the agenda?

Zero only chance going once, twice, three times.

Okay, uh Carl, we got anybody on the line that submitted a form that wanted to address council.

We got somebody, uh somebody else?

Go ahead.

Um sorry, are you going to the podium?

Uh we're still busy in here.

Carl, I'll get to you in just one sec.

Uh you had a question there.

Uh if the if your item is on the development variance permit for one hospital way or um or 406 Creed Road, there's space in there, sir.

I believe theirs is the first item on the agenda, and it can be incorporated within uh 12 Vickery Road, I believe.

And there the parking lot.

Yeah.

Yes, uh yeah, for 12 Vickery Road as well, there'll be an opportunity uh for for both staff and uh property owners to make comment there.

Uh Carl, now I think it's uh time to go to you, sir.

Mayor Tobias, we have uh we have no messages on the forum.

Thank you.

Uh and I think that brings us down to reports.

Uh so that leaves us uh to 8.1 12 Vickery Road remedial action.

Thank you, your worship.

Uh Counselor Brown.

I'm gonna recuse myself because there may be a perception of bias because I have been on the property before a couple occasions.

Thank you, Councilor Brown.

We'll uh thank you for that and thank you for your openness.

And uh we'll have um somebody from staff uh on completion come and grab you.

Uh do we have a report, Stack?

Uh good evening, Mayor and Council.

I'm Steven Patterson, the building inspector for the town.

Um tonight we're gonna be talking about uh a structure on 12 Vickery.

All right, sorry about that.

Um, yeah, so first off, uh the purpose of this report is to inform council of a residential property, non-permitted construction in contravention of the BC Building Code, um, the town's building bylaw, and to request council to impose the remedial action requirements in relation to sections 72 through 80 and sections 17 and 258 of the community charter.

So the background, the background on this, um the property is located at 12 Vickery Road.

It's a two-story single-family dwelling.

Um subject property is currently owned by John D.

Becker.

On November 19th, uh 2024, council passed a motion to file a community charter section 57 on the property title.

This notice was filed with the land title and survey authority of PC on November 26, 2024.

And on December 11, 2024, the town received confirmation by way of a title search print that the section 57 notice was registered against title.

So we'll just go to the analysis.

So, first off, the structure that's built.

There's been numerous violations of the BC Building Code and violations of the town's building bylaw.

This includes structural deficiencies identified during multiple uh failed inspections, including framing, sheathing, and rain screen.

The owner has repeatedly failed to address deficiencies noted by the engineer of record and third-party reviews.

A stop work order has been removed, the unsafe to occupy notice ignored, and unauthorized construction continued by the owner.

Unsafe building conditions pose a potential hazard to occupants and the public.

Uh, the owner's unwillingness to resolve deficiencies despite multiple opportunities and reminders by EOR and staff.

The town is obligated to enforce compliance with town bylaws and uphold public safety and building standards in accordance with the BCBC.

So I have a few slides, um pictures from the uh build, and they just kind of highlight um where it kind of where it deterred from off of the BC building code uh minimum requirements, and then also stuff where it's uh gone off from what the engineers' plans were.

So things that have changed.

So in the first one, so the picture um, and to be made known, I have been to the site um when I first started with the town of Uroyal.

Um, and at the time we had an interim building inspector.

So we attended this site.

So the picture on the left is roughly where the the building was at the time, it was for a sheathing and rain screen inspector.

Um we ended up giving it um, it wasn't a fail, it was it needed to be a reinspection, it wasn't complete at the time.

Um, and then so if you look at the picture on the right, uh that's currently what the property is looking like now.

Um, and just some things to point out.

So in this picture, um, there's two types of vapor barrier on here.

Um, and I just like the highlight.

So DuPont, um, and I have it listed there, it's requires, and then there's a list of all the products it makes um to be covered within four months, 120 days of installation.

Um, and if you go to the commercial wrap, it gives nine months, 270 days of installation.

Uh Nova Wrap is the other one there.

Um, again, it also recommends 120 days of installation so the UV from the sun actually damages these membranes um and then if they're left open too long they actually just start to crumble and now you you've lost one of your planes of uh water protection um so the second one here um so anything in the gold box and I've titled it BC building code so in this picture here um let's see if the laser works so the first section we're focusing on is here so in construction.

This is the top plates.

Generally, you're gonna have two top plates.

That's industry standard um in this picture here, you see we have four top plates um the BC building code tells you, you know, what is permitted and what's not permitted.

So the BC building code is always minimum requirements.

Having said that, if you look at the box underneath, so this is off the engineered plans that were approved by the town of View Royal, provide double top plates on all load bearing walls, lap splice top plates with minimum 12 three inch nails and 24 inch overlap.

So during my brief visit, I was able to look inside just to get an idea of it.

And these are things that have popped out to me.

So there'll be more pictures coming up here.

And what I would also draw your attention to again with subflooring subfloor is always the land on a joist.

And right here.

Okay.

So up here I'll just bring your attention here.

So subfloor is always the land half on a joist and splice there.

It's not to land in the field and then be uh nailed down to a floating two by four block.

So that will create sponge in a floor.

Definitely noticeable something tile would not be supported on on that if you were to do that.

This picture here protection from dampness so what I would point out here is you have a beam pocket.

So the building code, wood is never to touch concrete.

So under here, there's nothing separating it.

Usually it's a sill gasket.

At this level here, this could create a roll section.

Like you could have a beam actually roll out.

So at the time this was not addressed, this should be attached mechanically.

This one here, built up wood beam.

So there is a method to it.

There is an example given on the approved structural engineered plans.

And in this one, the splice points here, you can get away with one third, the one third rule, but it has to be removed from the next couple plies.

So you'll see here on this, you have what looks like a six or eight inch block that's actually not structurally sitting on anything.

And if you continue down here, you can see that they all line up every second one.

So that was again not by the engineers' uh specs on that.

This is examples.

And just to reiterate, this is not an exhaustive list.

Um, so this one here, again, if if you were to look at the engineered plans, this post here called for an eight by eight structural, so eight by eight actual solid wood built-up posts are can be laminated as they are, but you'll see in this picture here there's a shim at the top.

They call for full continuous plies the whole way from ground up.

Um, this one here is just a picture of a rim joist that is hanging over the wall.

So the rim joist is actually meant to sit on the wall.

All loads are meant to go down from the roof physically, connected through posts, uh studs, whatever you want to call them at this time, depending on the makeup of the wall.

So this one here, it's not fully seated on the wall plate itself.

Um, so this one uh in the engineered plans that were provided and again approved, shear walls, they'll be laid out in the plans where they're supposed to be, and this is a seismic thing.

Um, also another thing to remember is uh when sheathing a house, you're supposed to be a standard is is full sheets.

You never do piecework in here.

Um, and that's for strength.

So if you have a bunch of little pieces, it's actually not holding the wall together, it's a lateral brace.

Um, engineered plans again calls for shear walls to be using full dimension panels.

So that would be a four by eight sheet of plywood OSB, whatever was uh spec'd by the engineer.

Um, this one here, so you've got a window, and then above the window, this member here is the lintel.

So to accommodate this opening here, the weight of the roof comes down, and you'll see on the side that there's a full stud, and usually on the inside there'll be a cripple.

The cripple itself is to go to the bottom side of the lintel.

Um, and what you have here, which is not too code, you have a plate here.

So this creates a crush point, so over time you can get some crush here.

You want to go long dimensional into it.

And then if you look, sorry, and then if you look on this picture here, these are supposed to be full size as well, all the way down to the ground.

You have a joint here, and you have a plate here interrupting it, and then down on this one here, you as well have another plate with a gap there.

So all of that will end up becoming sag and settlement.

This notch is not acceptable.

What will happen is any weight, it'll crack up here and eventually fail.

On the side here, you've got an LVL, which the engineer has spec'd again, notched at the top, notched at the bottom.

This was not the design that was in the approved plans.

And then again, down below, you've got the notes from the engineer on there about notching.

So no notching of beams or joists unless detailed.

If you want to make change order change orders and you're working with an engineer at the time, if you come to an agreement, they will provide the drawing and the detail.

That also gets submitted to us for a re-evaluation just to be sure we have that record.

This one caught my eye.

So what I noticed was that all the floor joists were on Joyce hangers, which is not unusual, but what caught my eye on this one was that these screws holding this in are deck screws.

They have no shear strength.

So if you put something in horizontal, you can snap it off easily.

So Simpson makes this hardware.

They're very thin, they have a hold down strength.

This is what the engineered plans uh spec'd out as well for that.

So Simpson hardware follow installation instructions provided by manufacturer using correct fastener type, quantity, and filling all fastener holes.

So in this one here, all holes are to be filled.

There's one missing here.

These are all deck screws.

Now I went to the Simpson site, and on the left here is a picture of the screws that they've approved for this system.

And what I will um draw your eyes to is that every screw, so here's one here, they all have a bolt-style head to them.

There aren't any that are just a Robbie Robertson 2 uh screw.

So the only other ones that have been approved are GRKs because they are structural.

Um, but Simpson and the plans have both said to use Simpson hardware with Simpson screws, so those are the incorrect screws, and that would be every floor joist that I noticed had those screws in there.

So the other option is that you have a thicker, shorter nail.

Um, and that is structural.

It does have the thickness to take that.

Um so coming to the last part uh is our recommendation.

So we're recommending to council that you proceed with the requirement in the community charter section 72 B3, which requires the owner to bring the building up to a standard specified by bylaw.

The SOT resolution is as follows: Council give the owner a maximum of 30 days following receipt of council council's motions to submit a new building permit application.

Once the building permit application has been received, reviewed, and approved by staff, the owner will have 180 days from the date of building permit issuance to correct all deficiencies listed by the engineer of record, provide staff with the approved field reports of the engineer of record and a schedule CB and arrange for a pass for and pass the necessary inspections to obtain an occupancy permit.

Following the 180-day deadline, town staff would report back to council about the issuance of the occupancy permit.

Um the last the last heading here is justification.

So pro proceeding with the proposed recommendation will give the owner another opportunity to work with town staff and bring the building into compliance with town bylaws and the British Columbia Building Code.

This recommendation would not result in the town incurring costs associated with the proposed remedial action, as the requirement is to bring the building into compliance with the British Columbia Building Code and town bylaws.

So that's that's it for my report.

Um and I know that there's possibly some questions, so happy to answer.

Thank you for the report, Stephen.

And uh before I go to my colleagues with questions, I just uh have a question myself, and that is uh throughout your process uh in dealing with the property owners, have you identified uh problem areas such as you highlighted this evening, then gone back and seen remedial work that it had been rectified to an acceptable standard?

Um good question.

So typical practice is a building permit application comes in, gets reviewed, and the the permit goes out.

So if it's a part nine residential house, doesn't always need an engineer.

But when you start going outside minimum requirements of the building code, uh it does require an engineer.

So on this one, it required an engineer.

So typical practice, there would be um let's say the footings had been done.

So you would go out for the formwork, the engineer comes out first, he signs off on it, the town inspector is then called out to look at it as well.

Um we're kind of complimentary to an engineer, but there are things that they don't look for that we do.

To pour.

So in this situation, when I came in, the inspection that had been called for was rain screen and sheathing.

So the framing inspection had never been passed.

And from our records, we had the interim building inspector who had been on site for a plumbing rough in inspection and a framing inspection and had given it um a re-inspect because it wasn't complete to that.

Um and at that point, we also did not have an engineer sign off on the framing.

So again, best practice is you get the engineer to sign off, we come in, inspect, we give the approval, you move forward.

And that's basically so that you don't jump the gun and cover up work, and now we're asking you to uncover it so we can inspect it.

So, no, at that point, no, um, my first uh view of this place was with the rain screen and had a chance to take a look at framing while we were there as well.

So, no, um, that was a reinspect.

Um, I think there was uh other inspections called for afterwards, which we denied because we hadn't received anything from the engineer on this one for the prior inspections.

Okay, thank you, Stephen.

Appreciate it.

Uh council, uh, do you have questions for staff?

Councilor Lemon, please.

Um, for for the public and and uh residents who may be watching, Steve, can you um uh explain what a section 57 notice is that was filed in November?

Uh yeah, through the mayor.

Um so the section 57 um basically if you if you had a house that had occupancy, let's say for this example, and um someone had heard work going on and you went in there and and there was a change that wasn't within a permit and wasn't um approved through the town through the permit process, um there might not be a life safety concern, but there is a can there is a uh responsibility for the town to let potential buyers know that might buy that house that there is an issue that the owners have not addressed at that time.

So yeah, it's it's just basically our duty to warn the public that there is something that's not been approved and it could be a potential issue for you.

So you have to be made aware.

Thank you, Stephen.

Uh um in your view, or in the engineer of records view, this building is structurally unsafe.

Um through the mirror as well.

If we don't, the engineer who designed it and uh performed all the calculations for every structural load in the house who has signed the schedule C or B, which is the letter of assurance, he takes the liability on.

If he does not sign off on it, it's his liability.

So until he signed off on it, I can't go forward with our framing inspection as well, because I know that something structural is not up to his specs.

So no, I I can't I can't sign off on it.

Okay, thank you.

Councilor Rogers.

Yes, thank you.

Um question is about time frames.

And um, so the the first recommendation of of staff is that um uh there'll be 30 days to uh submit a new building plan.

Is is is that's the question say he could submit the original building plan that uh staff had approved.

Um through the mayor, uh yes, it is possible.

Um there would be a highlight and there might be some concessions made.

Um we have had a building code change which does have different requirements, um, but I believe it can be up to the AHJ, the authority having jurisdiction to make some concessions as the building has already come substantially through the build process.

But yes, um we have a set of approved plans that were done in I believe 2019, which could be redone with either under this engineer or a different one who wants to take on and stamp it and then uh submit that as a set of plans to town of Ural, then yes, we could go with those plans.

Thank you.

Sorry.

The slides that you uh provided, is that the uh comprehensive list of deficiencies that uh you're worried about?

Uh through the mayor.

No, as I said, that was not exhaustive.

That was just four examples.

Um it's uh at that point it wasn't in my position to go through a list of uh deficiencies at that.

So there's more.

Um I I guess and I really appreciate the the images and they uh uh it certainly speaks to a great deal of concern.

Um and it seems like the I'm I don't know the dates of when these images were taken, but it seems like if the um owner has continued to build, then these that you've seen are probably covered up.

Uh is that a reasonable assumption?

Uh through the mayor?

Yeah, I I could only speculate at this point.

But again, as I mentioned before, uh you wait for approvals with the engineer or the building inspector before carrying on to prevent that.

Thank you again.

One of the challenges of uh submitting a new form is realizing that it's a different ball game.

We've we've got a building that's got numerous deficiencies, all covered up, and when I see these, um for example the NASTA framing members, how in the world and you know could that alone be addressed in 180 days?

You know it seems like there's so much work that uh one it's it's almost like 180 days to get to the problem and then on top of that uh days to fix the problem.

And so is it my question obviously is is 180 days sufficient to um take it down redo?

Uh, through the mayor.

Um, yeah.

So if you read in the BC building code and you read um on our permits, it's the owner's responsibility to follow uh procedure.

If you choose to go outside of that, that's on your own onus.

So you can take with that what you like.

But the responsibility is up to them.

We don't dictate their time frames.

Um the permits stipulate, so now I believe we're up to two years with a renewal.

Um your responsibility is to finish within the permit and to read the permit uh guidelines.

And if there is an extension, then you can make accommodations for your time to meet that timeline as well.

But if you don't want to follow those and you want to continue ahead, you're gonna find it very difficult to find someone to sign off on anything.

Yeah, and and again, looking at the complexities of here, the various stages of inspection, um, are those stages of inspection being added as part of those 180 days so they may have to wait 14 15 a month before they can be an inspection uh again through the mayor um we don't control their their timelines right so that that's the engineer that's doing that the engineer of record would require inspections to be um performed and passed before signing off on it okay so my my last question is that again concerned about um the complexities of the um remediation of these deficiencies, um, I guess council may we've got three choices.

Go with the 180 as per recommended, do something longer, or um perhaps have staff come back um at some point to give a report on the progress uh that's if substantial progress is being made and and uh you know advised if there's justification for a further extension.

Are those options that uh are before us?

Uh through the mayor.

So we have our first recommendation and we have follow-up recommendations, and those are all laid out pretty clearly.

Um, timelines being part of it.

And I I believe depending on which one you choose, uh, we would follow up with how it ended.

It wouldn't be reasonable for us to go out there and start policing the progress.

Again, it's the owner's responsibility to make things correct.

So again, it's up to the um the individual to make application for extension.

Through the mayor, yes.

Thank you.

Counselor Mattson, if I don't see your hand, have you got a question?

No, uh staff made a very thorough presentation.

I'm fine.

Thank you.

Uh just for my clarification, Stephen, what's the current status of the property?

Is there a stop worker work on it?

Is there do not occupy?

Like what's the current status of the property?

Uh yep.

There through the mayor.

There's um, yes, there was a stop work order posted.

Um had been removed from the door at some point.

I haven't seen it there.

Another one had been posted again as I've driven by lately.

There was a unsafe to occupy and that was to warn potential people from the public and to the owners that it was unsafe to occupy.

And I cannot speak to if it is occupied at this point.

Thank you, Steven.

Thank you very much.

If there's no other questions, um uh would the owners of the property uh like to address council and uh answer specific questions that council may have.

So it's on?

It is on.

Thank you.

Hi.

I'm John.

Hi, John.

You've heard a lot about me.

Yes, it's uh it's uh it's a significant file.

Yes, uh I'm here to straighten straighten things out here a little bit.

Uh sadly, we my wife put together a really fantastic PowerPoint, but we're not allowed to show it to you.

Not sure why.

But oh, um those photographs.

I've seen those photographs before.

They were taken by the engineer.

I've already addressed those photographs.

A good example, the notch in the wood.

Uh that particular day I didn't have enough lumber.

That notch is meant for the next piece of wood.

So when I went to Slegg the following, actually, it was a couple days later because I need to get a lot of supplies.

That was filled in with a piece of wood.

So that notch is not there because it's not.

It's not there because it's just there.

It serves a function.

But that's because it was a hole there.

And that's the windy side, the side that it that the wind comes from in View Royal.

That's the predominantly windy side.

And I'm working inside this building and it's cold and it's windy.

So I got a bunch of scrap pieces and I plugged up the hole.

That's all that is.

That came down.

Actually went in.

So this is my PowerPoint.

12 Dickory Road.

On the agenda here, we're going to talk about the structural problem, the qualifications, the November 19th, 2024 council meeting, questions for the building inspector, trust, and final thought.

There's a really nice picture.

Too bad I can't show you.

Anna did such a great job.

Introduction.

Everybody get to see the pretty picture.

Now, before I start, um, I hope you'll bear with me.

Uh I've been read the Riot Act by my legal counsel.

Uh, we have a case pending in the courts.

My legal counsel has told me what I can and cannot say, so I'm going to have to restrict some of the things that I say.

Our legal counsel is ludicrously expensive.

I mean, we've been told this can, and I'm just parroting, I don't know for a fact, but I'm just parroting what I've been told.

These cases can run up to $200,000, $250,000.

And they generally run for about 15 to 17 days in the Supreme Court.

So I understand what I'm facing, and I'm standing here telling you, I'm standing here to confirm that I'm the good guy.

I followed all the rules.

I just want to show you something.

I did what I was required to do.

Oh, and um can I have my blueprint?

Just bear with me one second, please.

As a rule in construction, you can generally tell a good journeyman from a bad journeyman.

And the standard is generally the condition of the blueprint.

A blueprint that is filthy and marked up is a blueprint that someone follows.

When you see a blueprint that is in this condition, it's been looked at a lot.

If you see a pristine, clean blueprint, that's probably the sign of a bad journeyman.

Those are the people that don't follow the rules.

So again, a nice pretty picture.

Structural problem.

Boeing and cracking six by six posts.

That's my mistake.

Ladies and gentlemen, that's my crime.

See, what I did was I had the audacity to tell the engineer that's a safety structural problem.

Those six by six posts are bowing, cracking, and the building is going to come down.

I was abandoned.

I had lots of great stories here that I could tell you, but I'm sorry I cannot.

That will come out in court.

Trust me, you can count on that.

Structural problems.

Okay, so I'd love to show you this picture.

See, but I can't.

If you were to look at this picture, what you would see is a post that is cracking right down the middle.

And those are the LVLs.

And those LVLs and these posts have what's known as a point load calculation.

The point load calculation is a generally, it's a it's a pretty simple math calculation.

But I'll make it really simple for you because I'm old school.

I work in inches and feet and tons.

Tons are important to me.

The thing weighs two tons.

So you got that in your head?

A two ton Range Rover.

Now, a six by six post has a point load calculation of around 14 tons.

So you can now imagine seven Range Rovers parked on top of each other, sitting on a post.

If you exceed that, you have a structural problem.

The building in Langford, the one where those young people were, or all those people were allowed to go and move into this was this uh low income housing, where the engineer undersized the posts.

And another engineer out of a matter of courtesy walked over and said, You know what?

You made a mistake over here.

Maybe you should fix this.

But through this other first engineer's arrogance and fool's pride, he simply said, you know what?

I'm just gonna ignore this.

Can I just uh hang on.

Leon, do you had something?

Yeah, um, through the mayor, I my apologies, but I do I do need to interject here, um, just so that council is aware that um any opinions um the property owners express about energy or record and any other engineer are the property owners and town staff and the town do not share these opinions, and such opinions and possible defamatory statements should not be attributed to the town or town staff.

Thank you.

Thanks, Leanne.

And John, if I could get you to just really focus, I know you're bringing other examples in, but in your presentation, if you could just focus on your property and exclude all of the examples of other people.

Sure.

I have no problems doing that.

Thank you.

So back to my posts.

Now, if I could show you this picture, what you would see is a post with a little piece of wood here.

Now, people would look at that and they would say, That's unusual carpentry.

That doesn't make any sense.

Why is that there?

I build the house by myself.

I'm one person on this job.

I'm not the leader of a crew.

I'm one person.

I'm 62 years, 63 years old.

I can only ever be in one place at any one point in time, and I only have two hands.

So if I could show you this picture, what you would see is a post with a little piece of wood.

That little piece of wood was was an angle brace.

It was there to hold the post up because I needed to put the big orange beams, the LVLs, on top of that.

I can only be in one spot at one time so I'm using creative ways of holding a post in place so that I could put a big beam on top of it in the next picture this post here that you see with the big crack in it it got way way worse it got so bad that I could see light through the posts they weren't cracking.

They were exploding.

I had more than seven uh seven range rovers parked on top of this post.

This post here, you'll see this stitch plate.

What I ended up having to do was I actually had to take two pieces of wood and a big C clamp and I actually squeezed the wood together again so that I could stop it from getting worse.

I put the stitch plates on there.

Eventually I was told that I had to shore up the plates.

Now I'm starting to get into the legal lens of things, and but I can tell you that I had the posts covered in 16 gauge galvanized steel to stop these posts about safety because I'm the guy who brought up the issue of safety.

I'm the guy who called WCB.

I'm the guy who informed the engineer.

I'm the guy who had to go and find additional engineers to just come and look.

Just somebody come and look and tell me if I'm nuts.

My posts are bowing and cracking.

I'm the guy who's had to make the corrections.

So let's talk about.

I wish I could show you this.

Qualifications.

Let's talk about my qualifications.

Now I've never claimed to be a journeyman carpenter.

I've never claimed that at all.

But how's the guy who's not a journeyman carpenter build a house by himself?

Again, by himself.

So I'd show you this picture.

If you could see it, it would say 34 Vickery Road construction.

Building inspector was Gary Faykes.

It has an occupancy permit.

I built that house by myself.

It has an engineer's stamp.

It has an occupancy permit.

It passed with flying colors.

It's been standing for 12 years.

12 years.

It's been standing for 12 years.

Again, I built that by myself from the ground to the peak.

One guy, except for the plumbing and the electrical.

I don't do that.

I mean, I could, but I hate plumbing and can't stand electrical.

Sorry.

24 Vickery Road.

It has an occupancy permit and an engineer stamp.

Building inspector was Gary Faykes.

I built that house by myself.

That's two.

Two houses on Vickery Road that I have built by myself.

Both of them have occupancies.

Both of them have engineer stamps.

Both of them went by with foibles and nobody's ever perfect.

I make mistakes.

I'm human.

But those mistakes were corrected.

They were addressed, they were corrected, and that building has been standing for seven years.

Seven years.

Now, I'll tell you about old man Jack.

Old Man Jack was uh, he was my friend.

He was a Navy veteran.

And this is on topic.

I know it sounds a little off topic, but uh when he passed away, he willed me his property.

That's 12 Vickery Road.

Before he passed away, the town had previous town had condemned his home.

They told him he couldn't stay in that house any longer.

My wife and I took him in.

He's my friend.

He stayed in a basement.

We have a basement suite that I built for my mom.

My mom never moved in.

So I said, you know, ten minutes or ten ten years, my place is your place.

So we took care of him.

Not just because he's Navy, but because I'm ex airborne.

We don't leave him behind, and that includes the Navy guys.

It took me seven months.

I uncondemned his home.

A bunch of Snickers and some beer.

That's all it cost him.

I tore his house apart.

I made it safe.

Gary Fikas came out, reissued the occupancy permit.

This is all public record.

I'm not telling the lies here.

12 Vickery Road.

This is now the fourth house that I've built on Vickery Road by myself.

One guy.

So before you tear me down and say, you don't know what you're doing, and you're making mistakes, and that sort of thing, stop and think.

I'm standing 14-foot tall walls, 14 feet tall.

I'm standing them up by myself.

How?

How am I doing that?

There is a way.

I'm clever.

I'm five foot seven, five foot eight, and I'm putting 14-foot walls up.

That high.

By myself.

And they're straight, they're square, they're level.

And they're still standing today.

The building that you see in the picture, the green side, the green roof, the siding, two and a half years.

In its present state, that building has been standing in that condition for two and a half years.

There is no signs of structural failure.

Now that I've addressed the structural problem, which is the posts, which is why the lawyer and I are taking the engineer to court.

The engineer abandoned me.

So I'm going to talk about the in.

I hope you'll bear with me.

And I that's because there's cameras in this room, and the opposition, the legal counsel, would they be able to see what I'm saying?

And so I've been told I'm not allowed to give away the pudding.

So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna explain my situation with my engineers so that you understand, by explaining my situation with the building department.

Because there's a very strong parallel.

A lot of things that are in common here.

So we're going to talk about that last meeting.

I'd like to show you this picture, but I can't.

In this picture, you're going to see an old dilapidated shed.

That shed, if you looked at the ceiling, the roof of that, you would see it's like a saddle.

It's got a big bow in it.

That's a good sign of a structurally unsafe project.

That's something that you shouldn't have occupancy to.

See this nice shiny deck?

Our building inspector was standing on this nice shiny deck doing an inspection.

This one right here, that's 12, that's 24 Vickery Road.

That's a house that I built by myself.

You can see the roof is nice and square, it's nice and flat.

No structural issues.

So 27 minutes and six seconds.

The building inspector stated his role is to ensure all construction in View Royal complies with the town's building bylaws and BC building code, making sure buildings are safe and suitable for their intended use.

That was right next to him.

Is that safe for the intended use?

Now I could show you that would be his comment and the timestamp.

And in red, this is my reply.

The current building inspector has never come to my site to conduct an inspection.

He refused to conduct an inspection of the exterior rain screen after I suspended work on the interior.

The exterior work was approved to proceed by the interim building inspector Robert Gutierrez.

So what happened?

Well, I said to Robert, I said, look, I can't do anything on the inside of my house, but I can't leave the outside of my house the way that it is.

And the building inspector pointed that out.

If you leave the rain screen exposed, eventually it corrodes and it fails.

The best option to minimize any further damage is to at least cover it up.

Let's get the exterior done.

The exterior bears no weight.

It doesn't go towards the interior.

So it's perfectly safe to do the exterior.

And Robert said, absolutely, I agree.

The less damage, the better.

So he said, go forward.

Finish the rain screen and you can do your siding.

You can't do anything on the inside until we get this figured out.

At 27 minutes and 15 seconds, the building inspector stated that the work done without required permits and inspections cannot be confirmed as meeting life safety and minimum compliance standards.

I swear this has to be cut and paste.

Seriously.

We had an approved building permit.

I don't know if he mentioned that to you.

However, the current building inspector refused to conduct any inspections when requested.

I asked for the current inspector to come and have a look at my projects.

He told me I can't look at the outside of your building because of the inside of your building.

Okay.

Seems a little strange.

27 minutes and 39 seconds.

Quote, however, filling the section 57, filing, sorry, filing the section 57 notice does not negate municipalities' responsibilities to address unsafe conditions or enforce building codes.

My response.

Responsibility.

I'll sign any waiver you guys want.

You don't need to have any worries regarding Anna and I.

We'll take full responsibility.

Now, and I understand what this what the CAO had said.

He said, Well, we really can't have you signing a waiver.

And the reason why is because in 20 years, when you're dead, it won't count.

I put it to you like this in 20 years, if that building is still standing, you have your waiver.

It's not falling down.

29 minutes and 17 seconds.

Plumbing permit pulled, which also ended up expiring.

Okay.

This is not true.

That's my reply.

It did not expire.

It was finished.

Plumbing had been roughed in.

At present, there are no finished toilets or sinks or showers or bathtubs.

I think that should answer the occupancy question.

This was part of Robert's inspection.

Robert did an inspection on our property.

He did the plumbing inspection.

He did the electrical and he did the framing.

At 30 minutes and 10 seconds, the building inspector said the municipality found a framing inspection report.

Fell out of the sky just found it.

Correction.

Correction made after Anna provided a copy of the December 6th, 2022 inspection report to the building department.

Suddenly this was discovered.

My wife gave them that information.

This wasn't discovered.

If it was, then they were withholding this information from counsel.

Yellow parts.

This is where it's gonna start to rot your lives.

Thirty minutes and twenty seconds.

Three, remember that number, three preliminary framing inspections, none of which passed due to a list of deficiencies needing correction by the owner contractor.

There was actually only one preliminary review.

As was noted by Anna, as the eager EIT was going through all the items on his list, as I had had things I needed to work on immediately, he was sending them as they were completed for those areas.

Hence, there are three different dates and colors on the same review.

There'd also like to emphasize that I never requested a review.

See, the engineer had a really nice lady working.

Her name was um Heather.

Thank you.

She emailed me, I think twice.

Really, I'm bad with names.

Heather.

Really nice lady.

She phoned me twice.

She sent me a couple of texts.

She was constantly asking me if they could come to site and have a preliminary framing review.

And I kept saying, Well, there's nothing to review.

I'm one guy and I can only build at one speed, and I only had one wall up the first time she called.

Second time she called, I had like two walls and a partial part of a roof.

Third time she contacted me, I had the other part of the wall.

I mean, what is there to review?

I don't have anything to review.

I'm one guy and I'm building a house by myself, and there's just nothing for them to come to.

Eventually I gave in and I agreed to a framing review.

I didn't request it, I agreed to it.

On condition that they understood that I was not ready for a framing review because I wasn't finished.

The list that Trevor found of deficiencies.

That's my list.

I gave that to him.

When he showed up on my site, the first thing I did was I walked this young guy around my site and I said, Look, these are all the areas I'm not done in yet.

This one, this one, I have this to do.

You would know that by a dirty blueprint.

You would know that because it's all noted here to be done.

I'm not hiding deficiencies.

A lot of the items, the building inspector's so-called deficiencies are items that I hadn't commenced work on as per the date of review.

At present, all.

Do you get that?

At present, all of the items listed on the March 14th, 2024 have been addressed and photographed as per the EOR's instructions.

He told me to do that.

Finish it, photograph it, send it to me.

All of them have been done.

Now, if you see, there's this little blue writing example of a locker room.

This is my attempt to be funny.

Bear with me.

I'm a guy.

If I just walk into the ladies' locker room, there's going to be things in there that I'm just not going to understand.

Women are magic to me.

I'll get you to stay on point, please.

Understood.

At 30 minutes and 29 seconds.

The full framing inspection by the EOR was also not approved as deficiencies requested the EOR to conduct a framing review.

I understood this was to be a visit.

I received an email from the EOR's staff saying the engineer would like to stop by for a visit to review my posts.

But instead, it became a two-hour witch hunt with the EOR and his friend.

At no point during their visit did they ever once address my posts.

This was the final straw for me.

It was at that point that I said, this is wrong.

This building is falling down.

I've got half a million dollars worth of wood, and it's going to be sitting in my basement.

So I'm the one who stopped the project.

I suspended the entire project for almost a year.

That included the engineer.

30 minutes and 55 seconds.

Last December, the owners engaged with the engineers and geoscientists of British Columbia, EGBC, and filed an investigation into their engineer of record.

During the investigation, the engineer is suspended from all work on the project until such time the investigation concludes.

As of today, the town has not received the EGBC's investigation conclusion.

I've also periodically checked in with the engineer to see if there are any updates.

And the latest one was a couple of weeks ago, and nothing's moved on it.

My response in yellow.

Anna filed her initial complaint on February 9th, 2023.

However, the supporting documents were too large and to fall and too large and on to on follow-up.

She had to resubmit March 1st, 2023.

Anna did not get a formal response until December 14th, 2023, stating they will be conducting an investigation.

Now it must be serious as it took as it's been going on now for two years.

This is a two-year process.

Clearly, there's something here.

The investigation is still ongoing because it took EGBC nine months to respond to Anna's complaint.

They must have been running around with their hairs on fire.

Nine months before they finally acknowledged that an investigation has started.

Our reputation in the community.

I'm gonna back that up.

31 minutes and 30 seconds.

The town issued a stop work order April 15th, 2024.

That's what was in the video.

Neglected to mention that after renewing the October 4th, 2023 building permit, the building inspector sent a letter dated October 11th, 2023, stating that we cannot renew our building permit in accordance with the building bylaw number 111 and would need to apply for a new building permit.

Why is that important?

As the EGBC suspended the EOR.

Let that sink in.

Let that sink in.

The EGBC has suspended the EOR from coming on site to connect any further reviews, and we cannot at present hire a new engineer.

We cannot submit a new building permit.

No engineer is going to take on the liability of another engineer, especially knowing the EOR for our project is being investigated.

Hence, suspended.

I would think that's serious.

I was in a catch 22 situation.

If I don't proceed with my work, the building permit would not be renewed.

I cannot submit for a new building permit because no engineer is going to sign off on a construction of a building they did not design.

This is a trap.

Okay.

If I open a dialogue with our suspended EOR because of the assistance, insistence of the building inspector, I will be breaking the EGBC's ban against the EOR.

This action by the building inspector, if acted upon, would allow the EOR to escape his responsibilities for abandoning our project.

Hence, we would then be fully responsible for his mistake because of his actions being proposed by the building inspector.

Do you see the loop?

I think I'd be concerned because this that I'm talking about here, this is what's happening to me.

You guys are being asked to tear down my home based on what?

31 minutes and 39 seconds.

The building inspector states multiple deficiencies have now been covered, preventing further inspections.

How does the building inspector know this?

He has not conducted a single inspection of the site over the one year period where the whole project was suspended.

Is he allergic to me?

Do I have cooties?

Your previous building inspector, Gary, really nice guy.

I like Gary.

He used to just stop by down my projects just to see how things were going.

Robert was a really nice guy.

He would just swing by to see how things are going.

He told me that he was once parked across the street watching me work by myself.

10 seconds later, from 3139 to 3149, the building inspector now says, building inspector admits he has not been inside since the one time I've been on site.

I can't tell you what the inside looks like.

So let's do that again.

Building inspector states multiple deficiencies have now been covered, preventing further inspections.

Ten seconds later, the building inspector admits he's not been inside since the one time I've been on site.

I can't tell you what the inside looks like.

10 seconds.

I've never been there to see.

If I could put it up there, you'd see.

Why not?

Why not?

There are several windows at the front of my building.

A simple look inside could instantly determine that the house is nowhere near ready for occupancy.

This appears to be deceptive towards the good people on the town council, and another attempt to damage my reputation in the community.

The former building inspector, Gary, would often come by my site when he was driving by just to visit and see how the project was progressing.

I'm not done.

Okay, I never received this, as he never came by my site, other than the one time when he tagged along with the interim building inspector.

So where's my third set of eyes?

He just finished telling you he's the third set of eyes.

It's his job to come and check these things.

This is the only building inspector I've ever met that doesn't actually inspect a building.

I mean it's in the title.

Building inspector inspects building.

32 minutes and 55 seconds.

Building inspector mentions that things need to be exposed for inspections to be conducted.

Really?

Really?

Had the building inspector conducted his inspections for the rain screen and the insulation and vapor barrier, this would not be the case.

Numerous photos were taken to provide supporting evidence of what was completed.

FYI, Robert already did a framing inspection and asked for the EOR's framing review with no need for reinspection.

No need.

What you have is a bunch of little boxes with check marks.

They're clearly marked as checks.

But under that little spot, see what he did?

He put his pen down on the paper and he said, Are you going to do the things I asked you to do?

And I said, Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, I made a mistake.

I don't got a problem with fixing that.

He lifted the pen off the paper.

That's a pen dot.

That's not a check mark.

Go and look at it.

33 minutes and 43 seconds.

It's gonna take a while.

There's a lot.

Occupancy permit has not been issued and cannot be issued until the town of View Royal receives all approved field reviews from the engineer on record, followed by a schedule CB, which is also the letter of insurance.

Okay, you all got that?

Given the EOR has been banned from my site by the EGBC.

Let that sink in.

We cannot get any further field reviews and the schedule CB, and therefore we cannot get the occupancy permit.

We cannot get a new engineer to get a new building permit under the new building bylaw number 1111.

Probably didn't want me to be here today.

34 minutes and 33 seconds.

Various inspections be conducted and approved of aspects of work prior to concealing them.

See the the implications here?

I'm concealing things from you.

I'm hiding things.

There's deficiencies.

I failed.

For over a year there was no concealment.

The building inspector abandoned us, just like the EOR.

35 minutes and 37 seconds.

However, staff are not certain if the owners are.

Sorry.

Sorry.

I apologize.

However, staff are not certain if the owners are occupying the single family dwelling.

Why?

Why is he not certain?

Why are your staff not certain of this?

Why?

He could have just looked through the window and seen it was not occupied.

Why is he telling you that?

He showed up with the bylaw enforcement officer to place a sign on my front door and tried to instigate a conflict.

You want me to describe what happened?

There's a camera about five feet from my front door.

And while you weren't on camera, there's a microphone and it was recorded.

Do you want to know what the incident was?

Do you want to know how he tried to start a fight?

35 minutes and 40 seconds.

Given the town's repetitive, sorry.

Given the town's repetitive attempts for resolving issues at 12 Vickery Road with no cooperation from the owner.

What attempts to work with us?

All we got were letters of in compliance and stop work order notices telling us you cannot do further work until the deficiencies are completed.

We were abandoned and are being blamed by the building inspector.

We are the victims, we're not the villains.

By using the term deficiencies, again, this is an attempt to discredit my reputation due to the improper use of the word deficiencies.

So I'm getting close to the end.

Questions for the building inspector.

Define deficiencies.

Because I already asked him this question.

I've asked this question to the building inspector.

He was unable to give me a definition.