Fourteen houses on three streets, evacuated over sinkholes, cut off from gas since September 2019 and assessed at one dollar.
Where Seawatch sits, and the other places we attend
around Sechelt. Every name on the map is a link.
Fourteen properties at the end of West Porpoise Bay
Seawatch sits at the end of West Porpoise Bay, on the west shore of Sechelt Inlet, between Porpoise Bay and Sandy Hook. Its name in the regulatory record is The Shores – Phase 1 Subdivision. The normal road route to it is Reef Road north of Marine Way, not Sechelt Inlet Road.
The District of Sechelt's own page states that as of February 15, 2019, 1:00pm the Seawatch subdivision area is closed to the public. The closure covers three address ranges: 6629 to 6689 Gale Avenue North, 6644 to 6649 Seawatch Lane, and 6453 and 6450 Crowston Road. The same page states that the area is not expected to be serviced by emergency services such as police or ambulance. Fourteen properties are inside it. The subdivision as approved was 28 lots and was never finished.
The sinkholes were documented before the houses were built
Concordia Seawatch Ltd., whose principals were Ronald Davis and Ronald Antalek, bought land overlooking Snake Bay in 2004 for a 28-lot subdivision. A geotechnical report in 2006 documented sinkholes on the site and set design requirements for the infrastructure. The subdivision was approved and houses were built. A covenant was registered on the titles in 2006.
The first sinkhole opened on Seawatch Lane in June 2012. More followed. One house became uninhabitable and parts of the road were closed. A July 2015 report put remedial works at about $10 million with no guarantee of success, and Sechelt did not proceed.
A large sinkhole opened on 25 December 2018. On 6 February 2019 an inspection report by Thurber Engineering, titled Sinkholes at The Shores Phase 1, identified continued risk. An evacuation alert followed on 7 February. The evacuation order, the state of local emergency and the closure all took effect at 1:00 p.m. on 15 February 2019.
The gas was shut off by safety order in September 2019
On 16 September 2019, under Technical Safety BC Safety Order SO-GA 2019-04, FortisBC was required to isolate and shut off the natural gas supply line to the 14 properties, with a Technical Safety BC gas safety officer witnessing the shutdown. Service may not be reinstated until the hazard is mitigated. The order states the hazard as land subsidence and geotechnical instability with the potential to damage underground utilities and create gas leaks that could ignite, causing a fire or explosion. Revision 1 of the order is dated 30 April 2024, so it remains live.
The state of local emergency was lifted on 15 February 2022, after being renewed more than 150 times. Coast Reporter counted 156 consecutive weeks. Residents still could not return.
The courts, the covenant and the awards
Property owners started legal action in August 2019. By November 2019 the province, the District and the developer had all denied negligence. In August 2020 Justice George Macintosh ruled on the covenant. On 28 September 2021 the BC Court of Appeal, in reasons by Justice David C. Harris, held that the 2006 covenant and release on the titles protects the District of Sechelt from the owners' claims. The owners' lawyer Jeff Scouten responded:
It leaves municipalities totally unaccountable for harm caused by negligent actions
Jeff Scouten, lawyer for the Seawatch owners, September 2021
On 10 January 2022 Justice Gomery of the BC Supreme Court found the province's continued approval of the state of local emergency to be "an unlawful and abusive purported exercise of statutory authority", and fixed 17 May 2019 as the date after which renewal was no longer reasonable without a plan to address the risks. He awarded Carole Rosewall $108,265 in non-pecuniary damages plus special damages for rent and moving, and Gregory and Geraldine Latham $131,200 plus special damages for moving and storage. Double legal costs were later awarded to two owners, and the Court of Appeal refused to stay the awards. Leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada was filed for eight owners on 7 February 2022. The province later won its appeal on the nuisance claim.
On 13 July the District filed two BC Supreme Court actions against the owners of seven Seawatch properties, relying on the same covenant. Clause 8 requires owners to remove, restore, replace or stabilize improvements that have damaged, adversely affected or rendered hazardous District infrastructure. Clause 7 is an indemnity covering District costs, legal costs included.
BC Assessment values the properties at one dollar. In 2019 they were assessed at about $1.2 million.
What a check at Seawatch covers
Properties outside the three closed address ranges only; the closed blocks cannot lawfully be entered
The closure boundary and gate line where it meets an open lot, and any fencing on your own title
Ground at the driveway, the foundation line and the yard for new depressions or cracking
Natural gas meter, regulator and any isolation tag on a serviced property outside the closure
Doors, windows, garage and outbuildings, tried individually on every elevation
Heat running, or the water off at the main and the system fully drained
Anything left in the open that can be carried: tools, bicycles, trailers, yard equipment
A dated photographic record of each visit, which is what an insurer and a lawyer both ask for
Standard policies want a dwelling with nobody living in it attended at fixed points through winter by a competent person, most often no more than four days running, unless water is off and pipes drained. Cover near a closed or restricted area can carry extra terms, so read your wording line by line.
What it costs
A scheduled check at Seawatch is
$55 a visit, plus
$10 travel. The travel charge is the same
everywhere between Gibsons and Egmont. There is no minimum term and no joining fee.
See the full price list.
Where these facts come from
Every figure, date and quotation on this page was taken from one of these. They are
listed so you can read them yourself.
