By ROY WOOD
The project manager for the Oliver Landing residential development says work on the project will resume Tuesday despite a stop-work order issued last Thursday by the town building officer.
David Perehudoff said in an interview from Mexico earlier today that shutting down construction would be costly. “We have to (resume work). We have no choice. As per our lawyers, we have to mitigate damage. … If we were to comply with the stop-work order it would cost us $10,000 a day.”
He said the penalty for defying the order is “fifty dollars a day.”
The order was posted last Thursday by town building officer Wayde Bliss. According to Perehudoff, it relates to differences over the application of spray-on foam insulation being used on the project.
Town offices were closed over the Christmas week and Bliss wasn’t available for comment. Town staff indicated to ODN the order was issued because it has no verification from the developer regarding what has been done or the R-value of the foam insulation.
Work may be allowed on units where the spray foam has yet to be applied.
According to Perehudoff, the town is demanding insulation properties in excess of the provincial building code. “(Bliss) sent me an email saying we require twice what the building code is and that’s what the stop work order is for,” he said.
“We will do what’s required by the BC Building Code. And now it becomes an argument. We welcome that argument in front of council with our engineers.”
Perehudoff says the company has a professional engineer on the work site who has certified that the Accella polyurethane foam insulation as applied at Oliver Landing meets the provincial code.
Oliver Landing is a low-to-medium-cost residential development north and east of the corner of Co-op Avenue and Sawmill Road. It is projected to eventually include about 130 residences, mostly in the low $300,000 price range. Building is currently under way on the first 12-unit phase.
Oliver Mayor Ron Hovanes said in an interview this morning that he is aware of the order, but doesn’t know the specifics.
“These things happen,” he said. “Our building inspection department works very hard to work with anybody involved in construction and business. (They’re) dealing with public safety and the community’s liability.”
The mayor said such orders are rare. “We don’t have a history in Oliver of having a lot of stop-work orders,” he said. “In my whole tenure in local government, about 15 years, I can only remember three or four times when it’s actually been brought to my attention.”
Hovanes said he is confident that the interruption is temporary. “I’ve got full assurances that, at the end of the day, whatever seems to be missing or deficient … will be corrected and things will move forward.”