Response Letter to Council Report (February 27, 2025)
Comprehensive response and construction history of the 12 Vickery Road project from the owner, including a detailed permit and inspection timeline.
February 27, 2025
Town of View Royal Attention: Town Council 45 View Royal Avenue Victoria, BC V9B 1A6
Dear Town Council,
RE: Town of View Royal February 14, 2025 Council Report
When Town Council voted unanimously at the November 19, 2024 Council Meeting to support the registration of section 57 notice on the property title, Anna and I were and are still grateful for the kindness and understanding you’ve shown us. We thought there would be no further action against by the Town of View Royal. All we want is to live out our retirement years in our age-in-place home in peace.
As my November 14, 2024 letter stated “I don’t have a problem with having a registration of notice on the title of my property pursuant to section 57 of the Community Charter, SBC 2003. C26, as long as there are no restrictions on me and my family’s ability to occupy the premises at our own risk and there are no remedial actions take (in particular the remedial action process outlined in section 17, 72 to 80 (inclusive), and 258 of the Community Charter), including additional property taxes assessed against the current owners of the property.”; and with Council’s unanimous vote to register section 57 on the property title, Anna and I believed we could live out our lives in peace. It puzzled us that given our property is fully enclosed (see picture below), what the purpose of the Unsafe to Occupy sign when posted on the front door, so Anna requested it be removed after Council’s approval to add section 57 to the property title.
BACKGROUND
Before I delve into Anna and my response to the February 14, 2025 Council Report, I thought I’d take a few minutes to explain who we are and why the house on 12 Vickery Road is important to us. We moved to the Town of View Royal from Edmonton on April 1, 2003. We came so that Anna could attend the University of Victoria to obtain her master’s degree. While living in here, we decided that this would be where we would like to live for the rest of our lives. So, after Anna received her degree, she began looking at houses in the Capital Region, we went to see houses around the 13 municipalities, and she found some of the municipalities had bylaws that didn’t align with our interests, or the house was located too far out. After 3 years of searching, I told her to just pick a house, and we would renovate to meet our needs. That is how we ended up on Vickery Road in View Royal.
As we worked outside making our house into a home, we met our neighbours and others who were walking towards the dog park. We felt and still feel a part of the community.
When Anna joined a cat rescue society and wanted to help reduce the cat feral population, she joined the initiative to get cat bylaws in the Capital Region enacted to encourage spaying/neutering of cats older than 6 months. While visiting the CRD Animal Shelter, she asked the Kennel Master if there was a cat colony on Vickery Road. After learning that the cat colony had been in existence since the 1960’s, she asked me to introduce myself to our neighbour as he was a gentleman in his 90’s. Jack (John Henry Cosier) was a recluse who loved cats. He would spend money to buy cat food for his beloved cats even if it meant he would have to skip a meal here or there. I talked Jack and he agreed to let Anna trap his cats and find homes for them as they were multiplying and taking over the neighbourhood. The good part was we didn’t have any pest problems on Vickery Road; although the neighbours weren’t happy with the urine smells. Anna’s first attempt in trapping was on February 1, 2010 and while working with the cat rescue group that sponsored the cat bylaw initiative, she was able to have the cats move into foster homes after socializing them.
Given there was a lot of cats in the colony, Anna and I decided to start a charitable cat rescue society to trap, socialize and find homes for the feral and semi-feral cats. Knowing that the Town of View Royal limited the number of animals in a home, we worked hard to find fosters. Lucky Cat Haven Society was established on September 13, 2013, and going everyday to help Jack feed his cats, we were able to rescue over 100 cats and kittens. Given our daily interaction with Jack, we began to learn who Jack was. One day when Anna was coming home, she noticed Jack standing on the street surrounded by first responders. She ran into our house and shouted for me to come out and check on Jack. It turned out Jack was being removed from his house as he was living in conditions that were unsanitary. At 96 years old, hauling him off to a senior complex would be the death of him as his family was his cats. After some discussion, it was determined Jack was of sound mind but that his house was not suitable for living in (i.e., condemned), as we had space at our house, we asked Jack if he would like to come live with us. While Jack was living with us, I renovated his house to bring it up to code and had it uncondemned so Jack could go home. It took numerous trips for Jack to move his things back to his house: I think he really enjoyed living with Anna and I as Anna spoiled him with baked goods.
When Jack had health problems requiring hospitalization, we visited him everyday and gave him updates on his cats. He was happy knowing that his furry family was being taken care of. The first time he was in the hospital, he asked to see a lawyer. We arranged for a lawyer to come see him at the hospital. Jack met with the lawyer to arrange for his Power of Attorney, Healthcare Representative and his Will to be made. Given his age, the lawyer arranged for a psychiatric assessment before he could create the documents. The lawyer also arranged to have a retired judge to attend when it came to having the documents signed: when I was asked to be the executor, I said I think it should be a family member. I needed time to think so I stepped outside to get a coffee, the retired judge followed me out and stated to me I was the right person, as I didn’t want to be the executor. Jack passed away peacefully on August 31, 2016, at the age of 99 years old knowing his furry family would be cared for.
It took almost another 2 years before Anna and I finished capturing, socializing, and finding homes for all the cats from Jack’s colony. Having met its mandate, Lucky Cat Haven Society closed on July 18, 2018.
While helping Jack, I was working on building 24 Vickery Road, I received a request from one of the Town’s Councillors if I could help a displaced family while waiting for a more permanent location to be found. Anna and I have been talking to the Councillor as we were looking into starting a cat café to help find homes for our rescued cats. We also talked about working with Our Place to help homeless seniors after we completed 24 Vickery Road. As 24 Vickery Road was still under construction, we asked the Councillor to confirm with the Building Department that having the family at our house want not going to be a problem as this was an active construction site. The Councillor reassured me that it was fine. The family was helped by a church group, a police officer, etc. to move in on April 24, 2017. Well, it turned out it wasn’t okayed with the Building Department and thus, Anna and I were fined for having people occupy the suite while we were constructing the front addition.
With Jack’s passing, I didn’t know what to do with 12 Vickery Road. I thought about selling it, but it just didn’t seem right, as this was Jack’s family home since the 1960’s and so after sitting for almost 3 years, Anna and I decided to create a home that would include some of Jack’s original house materials into the build as aesthetic additions, in honour of Jack’s gift. So, instead of demolishing the old house, I disassembled it and put it in the backyard to include in the build of the new house. We wanted to create a room called Cosier’s Corner as Jack loved watching Coach’s Corner with Don Cherry. It would also be wonderful to take back Cyndi (Jack’s last cat with us) to her first home (at least the same location). I certainly miss the old guy!
Knowing who we are, I want to explain what has happened during the past 6 years since I started disassembling the original house at 12 Vickery Road and building the new one. As noted in the February 14, 2025 Council Report, we received our Building Permit on October 4, 2019. It was the winter of rain; the property was a large clay field. Then Covid-19 Pandemic happened, and the world turned upside down: in British Columbia on March 18, 2020 the Covid-19 Province-Wide State of Emergency was announced. In April 2020, we received a letter dated April 1, 2020 from the former Director of Development Services providing Interim Building Permit and Inspection Processes (see Attachment # 1). I followed the instructions and took many pictures.
After a year had passed, I contacted the Town to ask if they were still following the Interim Building Permit and Inspection Processes. I was told no such letter existed. I don’t know what happened but perhaps due to the pandemic, the internal staff was not made aware of the change in process. As I am building the house by myself, with the help of electricians and plumbers, it takes a long time, so during the past 6 years, Anna and I have dealt with 3 Building Inspectors, 2 Directors of Building Services, and 2 Chief Administrative Officers. Given during and after the pandemic, many individuals decided to leave their employment for other organizations or retire, the change in staff is not unexpected; however, it means some of the historic knowledge was lost and the new employees are trying to fill in the gap of missing information.
Maybe it would help if I explained what it’s like to build a house entirely by yourself. 12 Vickery Road is the fourth house I have built on this street. I built 34 Vickery Road by myself; the only exception was plumbing and electrical. That house has an engineer’s stamp and the occupancy permit. I built 24 Vickery Road by myself; the only exception was plumbing and electrical. That house has an engineer’s stamp and the occupancy permit. I renovated Jack’s old house on 12 Vickery Road after the Building Department had condemned his home, after 7 months of work, Jack was allowed to return to his home (I did the work for snickers and beer). The house I’m building now has 14 foot tall walls, I’m 5 foot 8 inches, ask yourself, how does one person build a house with those dimensions? I have a skillset that most people don’t have. Because I work alone, it takes longer than if there was a crew of carpenters working on my site. What would take 5 carpenters 1 week to complete takes me almost a month. So, I have to approach the building of a house very different from the standard. My priority was to stand up all the walls and get a roof over my head during the warm period of the year. During the winter rains, I could go inside and finish all the small details. This meant I never concern myself with framing windows or doors or interior walls, adding blocking or straps or any of the small details that had to be completed on my project. Build the big things first, focus on the small things later, so anyone who looks at my project at a particular moment in time during an inspection will see many differences from a standard build because I work alone.
Anna and I understand the Town has to follow its procedures/processes to determine what to do with our particular situation; however, the last 2 years has been extremely stressful for us due to the Engineer on Record (EOR) not working with us. I involved the Interim Building Inspector. When the Current Building Inspector, insinuate that I wasn’t qualified to build a house and therefore he was not going to conduct any more inspections, given I had built 34 Vickery Road and 24 Vickery Road, it made me angry as the Current Building Inspector has never conducted an independent inspection of my project.
I understood then that the Current Building Inspector, without knowing the history of what has transpired, decided Anna and I were the “villains”. In the November 1, 2024 Council Report, the Current Building Inspector was missing the December 6, 2023 Inspection Report and we provided a copy in our response. I have been advised by our legal counsel to not share other pertinent information to our case as this will all be addressed during the legal proceedings.
RECOMMENDATION
Now that you know who we are and a caption of activities that has occurred during the past 6 years, I want to propose my recommendation for the Town Council as “Under section 72(2)(b) of the Community Charter, Council may require the owner to proceed with the following remedial action requirements....” without prolonging the process by me, the owner, requesting Council to reconsider the remedial action requirement, in accordance with section 78 of the Community Charter. My recommendation is:
Remove the Unsafe to Occupy sign from the property and request the owner sign a waiver indemnifying that in the event of an incident resulting from the unsafe condition, the Town will not be liable for failing to take the necessary enforcement action.
By having me, the owner, sign a waiver, it would address the risk identified under Option 3 (Do Nothing – Not Recommended) “In the event of an incident resulting from the unsafe condition, the Town may still be held liable for failing to take necessary enforcement action.” With section 57 on the property title “as a warning, notifying future property owners of non-compliance while a signed waiver from the owner for an incident resulting from the unsafe condition, it protects the Town of any liability regarding this property.
During our meeting of April 24, 2024, with Scott Sommerville, CAO, Anna and I mentioned as we were residents of the Town of View Royal since April 1, 2003, and we were looking for his assistance. We asked if having a notice of section 57 of the Community Charter was an option as that would address any future owners of the property, and to ensure the Town was not liable for incidents on our property while we were owners of the property, we offered to sign a waiver to indemnify the Town of any wrongdoings that may result from an incident stemming from our building.
Furthermore, as the building has been standing for over 2 years with no damages resulting from high winds, the rock blasting across the TransCanada Hwy, and the recent earthquakes, I believe there is minimal risk of the building collapsing as I did not skimp on materials when building our age-in-place home. For instance, when one of the EOR’s engineers asked if I wanted to change the LVLs to 2 x 12 to save money, I said I was comfortable with the LVLs to ensure structural stability. Of course, this doesn’t mean the house won’t collapse should the Capital Region experience a force majeure event, but the house may have less damage being located on the same type of geology as the hospital.
I would like to point out that the recommendation being proposed by the Building Inspector is something we cannot comply with as our EOR did not quit and we did not fire him, and he will not agree to be a participant on the new Building Permit. Furthermore, we cannot hire a new engineer as no engineer is going to take on the liabilities of a former engineer. We are waiting for a court date for our civil claim against the EOR. Knowing we cannot comply, the Building Inspector, from our perspective, is actually recommending that Town Council order the demolition of the existing building and thereby, destroy the evidence before our case in court is heard. If Town Council proceeds with the Building Inspector’s recommendation of Option 1, Anna and I will have not choice but to file a civil claim and request an injunction against the Town of View Royal resulting in both parties incurring unnecessary legal costs. This is something Anna and I do not want but if we are pushed into a corner we will proceed to protect our home.
CORRECTIONS FOR THE CORRESPONDENCE HISTORY AND THE REFERENCED ATTACHMENTS
As some of the attachments provided in the Council Report had redacted parts that creates a misrepresentation of the information presented by Anna and myself, to set the record straight, I have attached the reference attachments with the redacted parts reinstated with yellow highlights so that you can see what was purposely deleted so that you, the good people of Town Council, can make an informed decision.
With Anna’s permission, I have attached the following documents to this letter with the redacted parts reinstated and highlighted in yellow:
- Attachment # 2 - March 27, 2023 Email – February 14, 2025 Council Report Attachment 1,
- Attachment # 3 - April 14, 2023 Email – February 14, 2025 Council Report Attachment 2,
- Attachment # 4 - July 23, 2023 Email – February 14, 2025 Council Report Attachment 7,
- Attachment # 5 - February 29, 2024 Email – February 14, 2025 Council Report Attachment 9, and
- Attachment # 6 - April 19, 2021 Email – Addition for Attachment 16, second last paragraph shows that the 10M rebar was replaced with 15M.
In response to the Building Officer’s statement (top of page 5 of the Council Report) that “The owner has removed the SWO, which is in contravention of the Town’s Building Bylaw.” The Building Inspector has implicated I removed the sign without any supporting evidence. When the initial Stop Work Order (SWO) was removed, my wife emailed Scott Sommerville, Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), to thank him for assisting us (Attachment # 7). She assumed that Mr. Sommerville arranged for the Building Inspector to remove the sign. When this turned out to be not true, another SWO was posted on the door. I took photos of the sign daily to ensure that there was no tampering with the sign. When the sign disappeared for a second time, I noted it in my mind and went to work. Later that day while moving around the property I found the sign hidden behind my garbage bin located near the basement door. Unsure of what happened I picked up the sign and placed it inside the building behind the glass of the front door window. It sat next to the Building Permit. I took several photographs, which are date and time stamped as evidence that the sign was still visible and now no one could remove the sign without breaking a window. Later that day, I asked Anna to check our security camera files and we found a late night intruder on our property, possibly responsible for the sign removal. We have several files saved as evidence to ensure we are not being persecuted, in short, we have learned not to trust.
Given the two incidents of the SWO being removed, we installed the gate on our driveway to deter any further intrusion onto our property and to completely enclosed our project. For your information, I still have the sign in my building the only reason it wasn’t in the window case was because I was cleaning up around the front entrance and neglected to put the sign back afterwards. As noted in Attachment 15 of the February 14, 2025 Council Report, Anna contacted the Building Inspector to ask about the removal of the “Unsafe to Occupy” sign. This demonstrates that we did not remove the signs, that we have been complying the entire time.
Furthermore, when the Building Inspector came to post the Unsafe to Occupy sign on my door, he began knocking loudly on my front door to draw me outside. I feel this was a deliberate attempt to instigate a conflict, as it was unnecessary to have me come outside to post his sign. I spoke to the Building Inspector and the Bylaw Officer and although I was frustrated, I tried to find middle ground by offering the Building Inspector the opportunity to look inside the house to see its current state. He was not interested so I began to open the front door to go inside my house as I did not need to be present to watch him tape a sign to my front door. When I tried to open the door, the Building Inspector reached passed me and tried to slam the door in my face. I pushed his arm out of the way and the Building Inspector snapped “Are you trying to obstruct me?” I snapped back “Don’t obstruct me from going into my own house.” To be perfectly clear, there is a camera located a few feet from where we were standing and while they are not visible in the video the camera has a microphone. If the Building Inspector was wondering what happened to the SWO at that time, he could have simply asked me instead of falsely accusing me of removing the sign in the Council Report.
I would like to emphasize that Anna and I have had a horrible time being heard by anyone as we have had to repeat our side of the events on numerous occasions. I apologize if I sound like a broken record, but I want you to understand that we are the victims: not the villains. I would like to clarify the Building Inspector’s statement that I suspended the Engineer on Record (EOR) is a half truth, the full truth is I suspended all work on the project as I felt it had become an unsafe workplace. The EOR was part of the suspension, it made no sense to keep an EOR on a payroll while I’m trying to find out if my home has become a critical hazard. Also, I was the one who contacted WorkSafeBC to report my project was being suspended.
PERMIT AND INSPECTION HISTORY (Note: Items in red ink are additions.)
Following are my responses to provide a more complete picture of what had transpired. The items in red ink are items that were missing from the February 14, 2025 Council Report.
| Date | Permit and Inspection History | Response |
|---|---|---|
| October 4, 2019 | TOVR issues approved building permit. (BP#2485) | I started this project at the worst time, the winter of 2019 was one long continuous rainstorm. My project was a large clay field that filled up with rainwater, I spent almost all winter pumping water off my site which was a giant lake. |
| April 1, 2020 | Interim Building Permit and Inspection Processes • March 18, 2020 Covid-19 Province-Wide State of Emergency declared • June 30, 2021 – State of Emergency ended |
I want it noted that the Town sent me by mail a letter which I will link below. You will note under Inspections, the Town changed the rules due to Covid. I followed those rules, I complied with everything I was asked to do (Attachment # 1). |
| April 7, 2020 | EOR approves footing inspection. EOR noted that all rebar placed is 10M and not 15M as specified but the footings are okay. Notes that all further construction needs to conform with engineered drawings, any changes or variations must be reviewed and approved by EOR. (Attachment #16) | Attachment noted that all rebar placed are 10M and not 15M. I ordered the rebar from Slegg Lumber and they delivered the wrong size. I had just started installing the rebar when the EOR showed up and pointed out the problem. EOR [redacted] I went back to Slegg and explained to their staff that they had made a mistake, and they delivered to my site 15M as I originally asked for (see Attachment # 6). |
| September 29, 2020 | Owner renews building permit (BP#2485) | |
| April 16, 2021 | EOR approves foundation walls inspection. EOR notes all walls were poured at time of review, and client called for review after pour. Rebar placement cannot be determined with only photos and measurements provided by client. (Attachment #17) | EOR approves foundation wall. I want to note that after receiving the Town’s new rules, I contacted the EOR’s office and spoke to a very nice lady. I explained to her the rules the Town had given and asked if the engineers were doing the same rules. She said to me that she would talk to the EOR and get back to me, she never did get back to me. So, I continued to take photographs and record all my work in hopes that I was doing the correct thing. When the EOR showed up April 16, 2021, I explained everything that had happened, he was upset naturally as he was not informed by his staff. We worked our way through the problems, and I sent him the photographs and documentation he requested. I told him at that time that I had dozens more photographs and videos, but he seemed comfortable with what I had sent as he did not ask for anything more. He did approve my foundation walls during a crazy time in our Covid filled world. |
| April 21, 2021 | Former TOVR Building Inspector rejects water, storm & sewer inspection due to inadequate drain rock coverage. Concrete and mud need to be removed, and inspection rebooked. Inspector notes that owner has not called for inspection. (Attachment #18) | With regard to the Former Building Inspector initial report, I will henceforth explain what transpire. I received the Town of View Royal letter dated April 1, 2020 (see Attachment # 1). What I never received from the Town of View Royal was a letter stating that we no longer were following the processes noted in the “Interim Building Permit and Inspection Processes” letter. For a year, I had been following the rules never receiving any further information or direction from the Town. I decided to call the Town on April 1, 2021 to see if we were still following this process. The nice lady I spoke to said “that never happened you must be mistaken”. As I didn’t think she intentionally meant to make me out to be a liar, I ignored her statement and asked if the Building Inspector could come to my site at his earliest. He showed up April 21, 2021. He was very hostile as he had not had any connect with me for a year. I showed him the letter, he read the letter fully. In his own words, he said “Yup, that’s my boss’ signature.” The former Building Inspector then realized that I had been following the rules as the Town had laid out and as such I was not at fault. He then said he would rely on the EOR’s information. This missing background information is what has made the current Building Inspector misinterpret why the report stated “rejected” and was “relying on the EOR report”. The missing background information reinforced his belief (wrongfully) that I was unqualified to build the house at 12 Vickery Road. |
| April 21, 2021 | Former TOVR Building Inspector rejects footing inspection. EOR inspection report not yet submitted. Relying on EOR reports to pass inspection. (Attachment #19) | |
| April 21, 2021 | Former TOVR Building Inspector rejects foundation inspection. EOR inspection report not yet submitted. Relying on EOR reports to pass inspection. (Attachment #20) | |
| May 2021 | TOVR issues plumbing permit. (PP#2282) | |
| May 12, 2021 | Former TOVR Building Inspector approves water, storm & sewer at rear and immediate rear sides only to cover. (Attachment #21) | |
| June 10, 2021 | EOR approves footing inspection pending photos. Additional opening added for temporary doorway and approved by EOR. Remainder of interior foundation appeared in general accordance with design. (Attachment #22) | |
| June 10, 2021 | Former TOVR Building Inspector approves foundation inspections as per EOR report submission. (Attachment #23) | |
| August 4, 2021 | Former TOVR Building Inspector approves slab inspection. (Attachment #24) | |
| August 4, 2021 | Former TOVR Building Inspector approves foundation insulation / under slab vapour barrier. (Attachment #24) | |
| October 12, 2021 | Owner renews building permit. (BP#2485) | |
| March 8, 2022 | Former TOVR Building Inspector approves water, storm & sewer inspection. (Attachment #25) | |
| May 2022 | Plumbing permit expires. (PP#2282) | |
| October 13, 2022 | Owner renews building permit. (BP#2485) | |
| September 31, 2022 | EOR fails preliminary framing inspection. (Attachment #26) | Wrong date, it should be October 31, 2022. NOTE: the EOR conducts “reviews” while the Building Inspector conducts “inspections”. The use of the term “fails” implies I am incapable of completing tasks and can be construed as defamation of my character as he uses this term numerous times. To be clear, I did not “fail” the preliminary framing review. No one fails a preliminary framing review. Preliminary framing reviews are there to assist the builder in catching potential or future errors before they happen. It is a courtesy service to ensure minimal errors. Also note in Attachment # 26 and others, the term “failed” does not exist, it states “Further Review Required”. FYI – the Town allows for 2 inspections as part of the Building Permit Inspections and charges an additional cost, if more than 2 inspections are requested. This process is meant to help the trades; hence, the use of the term “fail” is inappropriate. Again, I never asked for a framing review, I agreed, when the engineer had asked me 4 times. I agreed on the condition that she understood I was not finished or ready for a framing review. On a side note, I received an email from the Corporate Officer stating that “should any possible defamatory comments be asserted within further correspondence or within John Becker’s (or Anna Becker’s) submissions that are submitted to Council before or at March 4, 2025 Council meeting, Town staff will be noting at the onset of the March 4, 2025 Council meeting that such comments are those of author(s) and should not be attributed to Town staff or the Town making such comments or agreeing with such comments.” I’m sure this will be applied equally and the Building Inspector’s claim of “fail” will be addressed. |
| November 16, 2022 | EOR fails follow up preliminary framing inspection. (Attachment #26) | Again, the use of the term “fail” is incorrect: the EOR’s review states “Further Review Required”. As there was a long list of items from the October 31st site visit, the EIT was updating the information accordingly. The EIT did not conduct another framing review onsite, he was using different colours to show the additions he was making to the version he sent to me. |
| November 21, 2022 | EOR fails second follow up preliminary framing inspection. (Attachment #26). | Again, “fails” is the incorrect term and can be construed as defamatory, as it implies, I am incompetent. Also, this was not a follow up preliminary framing review, it was a continuation from the October 31st and November 16th reviews. |
| November 29, 2022 | EIT comes onsite to discuss 2 questions | I offered to meet at the EOR’s office as I had 2 questions that needed to be addressed. Instead, the EIT offered to come to the site on his way home from another site. Rather than answering my questions, the EIT conducted an unrequested 2 hour preliminary framing review. This got me exceedingly angry as I only needed an answer to 2 questions which I never received. |
| December 6, 2022 | Former TOVR Building Inspector was onsite for framing and plumbing inspection. Inspector gave a partial approval, with direction for a reinspection when all work was complete. (Attachment #27) | With regard to this date, the current Building Inspector claimed in the November 1, 2024 Council Report that “No record of being performed” as such claimed we did not have a framing inspection or a plumbing inspection, after Anna supplied the proof, the current Building Inspector now wants you to believe that Robert wanted a reinspection. It makes me wonder that either the current Building Inspector doesn’t know or does know and is deceiving Council. The reason I asked for the Building Inspector to conduct a preliminary review was I was getting frustrated by the feedback I was receiving from the EIT and wanted a second opinion. When the interim Building Inspector showed up, he complimented me about my workmanship and was shocked when he learned that I was not a journeyman carpenter. He passed the framing and plumbing inspection with the framing subject to the EOR framing review report being sent to the Office. The interim Building Inspector had his pen on the “Re-Inspect” box and asked me if I would do what he asked me to do: 1. “Completion of exterior sheathing” 2. “Top plate continuous to complete”, 3. “Final 45o offsets to complete.”, and 4. “Knotching metal plate required”. I agreed to do all 4 items as what the interim Building Inspector asked for was the correct thing to do. After hearing that I would, he did not check that box. He had his pen resting in that square but once I agreed, he lifted his pen. You will note that beside the word “Building” there is a check mark, beside the “Plumbing” there is a check mark, beside the word “Approved” there is a check mark and the word “Partially – “. When you get to the box for “Re-Inspect” it is just a pen mark not a check mark. To be clear, no “Re-Inspect” was required. |
| March 14, 2023 | EOR fails framing inspection. (Attachment #28) | The constant use of the term “fails” by the current Building Inspector to me is defamatory as it implies to me, I am incompetent. Perhaps, all building inspectors see the world in black and white, as they only used the terms “Accepted” or “Rejected” in the Inspection Reports. However, the world is not black and white, there are many shades of gray. I will explain this point in February 14, 2025 Council Report. The EOR’s staff sent me an email asking if the EOR could stop by for a “visit”. I was happy and hoping that this would be a time where the EOR would look at my damaged posts. Instead, he brought a “friend” and went on a 2 hour “witch hunt”, followed by no inspection of my bowing and cracking posts. This is the point I felt was the last straw, so I suspended the entire project, including the engineer until the problem with my posts were addressed. Under Observations of this Framing Review, the EOR noted the following 2 points: “ – floor is not level, has high spots and low spots – structurally not a concern” “ – feels like floor has some soft spots – looks like floor sheathing is discontinuous between joists” If you conduct a simple Google search for “things that show a structurally unsafe home”, the first item that shows up is “uneven floors”, if you click on that icon the items of concern are sloping and soft floors. |
| June 19, 2023 | TOVR Building Inspector rejects sheathing / rainscreen inspection. Not completed at time of inspection. Previous inspections were not passed, and project cannot proceed. (Attachment #29) | I will again have to explain what the current Building Inspector is unaware of. When I suspended my project, it was due to the interior posts. I asked the interim Building Inspector, in person, if I could move forward with the outside of the house e.g. rainscreen and siding to protect the building from any further damage. The interim Building Inspector agreed that was a good idea, as less damage is better than more damage. He said move forward with rainscreen and call for an inspection. I then installed all the rainscreen and strapping except for one area that was 14 feet off the ground, and I needed scaffolding to finish. When the interim Building Inspector showed up, I explained that I would finish this high area after I got some rental scaffolding. He said after I finished the high area to recall for rainscreen inspection and it would pass. I moved forward on his direction. After completing the missing section of rainscreen, we asked for the rainscreen inspection. This is when the current Building Inspector stepped in and refused to come to my site to do an inspection, his reason was that the interior of the house prevented him from looking at the exterior of the house. I thought this unfair as I was following the interim Building Inspector’s directions. This is when I started having problems with the current Building Inspector. I was not ready to leave my house rainscreen exposed to the elements of wind and rain, so I moved forward after taking many photographs with installing siding. |
| October 13, 2023 | Owner renews building permit. (BP#2485). | |
| February 28, 2024 | TOVR cancels request for insulation and vapour barrier inspection as previous inspections from EOR had not been approved. (Attachment #30) | At this point I stated to current Building Inspector “it appears you have an agenda”. I gave up trying to be nice with him it was winter and that’s cold, my house has a heat pump so I installed insulation to stay warm so that I could continue to finish my small tasks still left to be addressed on my blueprint. |
| October 4, 2024 | Building permit (BP#2485) expires and cannot be renewed. |
CONCLUSION
With the inclusion of Anna and my side of the story on what has transpired during the past 6 years (including the disassembling of the original house), I hope the good people of Town Council will consider my recommendation to put this situation behind us all.
I would like to reiterate that had I not identified the safety concern, and permanently fixed it, based on the recommendation of another engineer, the building located at 12 Vickery Road would have collapsed due to the rock blasting on the other side of the TransCanada Highway. That is, we have many attempts to comply with the BC Building Codes; however, given the EOR abandoned our project, we cannot get an engineer stamp and hence, no occupancy permit with your approval to put section 57 on my property title, you recognized the predicament Anna and I are in.
With the February 14, 2025 Council Report, Town Council is being asked to believe that I can build 4 houses by myself (on Vickery Road), suddenly I can’t do carpentry. By agreeing with the recommendation made by the current Building Inspector, you will be deciding to demolish my house based on a Building Inspector who has never inspected my home.
The kindness we were shown by the Town Council by their unanimous agreeance to put section 57 on the property title after all we have been through cannot be overstated. My wife spent many nights crying over how we have been rejected by some, abandoned by others, and forced to endure lies and slander. We desperately wanted to comply with all the rules and regulations. As I once mentioned to the CAO, the EOR won’t sign off on our build, we will never be given occupancy because of the EOR, it’s a loop.
Finally, the current Building Inspector statement regarding Option 3 that the Town may still be liable for an incident resulting from at the “unsafe condition”, in our meeting with the CAO, Anna and I offered to the CAO that we would be willing to sign a waiver to release the Town of View Royal from any responsibility. I hope the Town Council will consider and agree with my recommendation to “Remove the Unsafe to Occupy sign from the property and request the owner sign a waiver indemnifying that in the event of an incident resulting from the unsafe condition, the Town will not be liable for failing to take the necessary enforcement action.”
This would relieve the Town of any liability resulting from the build of the house on 12 Vickery Road and allow Anna and I to live out the rest of our lives in our age-in-place home.
Sincerely,
John Becker 24 Vickery Road Victoria, BC V9B 1M4
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