Vancouver Island city recommends rental building's evacuation after structural issues found — again
RidgeView Place in Langford, formerly Danbrook One, has had its occupancy permit revoked twice since 2019
The City of Langford, a city of about 46,000 people in the Greater Victoria area, is asking people living in a rental apartment building to leave their homes after an inspection found the building unsafe.
It's the second time since 2019 that RidgeView Place, previously known as Danbrook One, has had its occupancy permit revoked.
The city announced the revocation at a hastily called news conference Monday afternoon.
"It is recommended that all residents vacate the building immediately," the city said in a follow-up statement.
A B.C. engineer was banned from the profession and fined because of his unsafe design of the building.
Remediation may not have fixed issues
Improvements were made to the 90-unit building the first time the building's occupancy permit was revoked. Last spring, the city allowed people to live there again.
The city said the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of the Province of B.C. (EGBC) notified it and building owner Centurion Apartment Properties Inc. in a letter on April 17 about a number of potential design issues that may not have been fixed by earlier remediation.
The city said EGBC concluded in the letter "no evidence that a comprehensive review of the structural design of the building, or of the as-built structure of the building, was ever conducted for the remediation."
Three days later, the city told Centurion to notify residents, get a third-party engineer to vouch for the building's safety and conduct an independent structural design review of RidgeView.
On Sunday, Centurion told the city the third-party engineer found the building unsafe after a visual inspection and "in the interest of public safety, strongly recommend the evacuation of the building until a more detailed analysis can be conducted."
"As a result, the City made the decision to revoke the occupancy permit and instructed Centurion to notify residents immediately," the statement said.
"As building owner, Centurion is responsible for ensuring residents have the supports they need during this challenging time."
The city said it would never have reissued the occupancy permit last spring if it had the information it has now.
Company responds
Centurion, in a statement of its own, said safety and security of residents is its top priority.
"We recognize that there is never a convenient time to receive this notice and share our Residents' frustration for the significant inconvenience that this will cause," read the statement from spokesperson Greg Romundt.
"In recent years, we have remediated the property in response to recommendations previously put forward by the EGBC in 2019 and only learned a few short days ago that an investigation was taking place.
"As we work to remedy this difficult situation for residents, we will continue to listen to our residents and do everything within our capability to support them through this transition."
Romundt said residents could expect an update by the end of the week.
With files from Kathryn Marlow