COMMUNIQUE #4
JULY 15TH 2011
I attended a meeting yesterday at the RM of Woodlands with
Al Caron the re-entry co-ordinator (who works closely with Frank Minaker in St.
Laurent) and two members from the OFFICE OF THE FIRE COMMISSIONER.
The purpose of the meeting was to address the issue of the
need to acquire a Structural Engineer ‘s Report and subsequent action to remedy
the conditions that the Engineer stated in his report in order to gain safe
entry to remove personal belongings from buildings designated as CLASS #4. Owners of Properties, that are deemed Class
1, 2, or 3 did not have this requirement placed on them and are free to move
personal belongings during access times made available by the RM’s. As a result of our deliberations on this matter
we decided that this requirement would make the entire process very cumbersome,
difficult to manage and enforce and so this requirement has been removed.
However, because SAFETY and LIABILITY are still the major
concerns for the Province and the RM’s we have developed a plan to accommodate
CLASS 4 Owners to abide by.
The entire area is designated a FOOD ZONE, and CLASS 4
properties have a notice attached to the building informing everyone who wants
to go in, that the building has been deemed UNSAFE, entry is prohibited under the CLOSURE ACT and
trespassers will be prosecuted. If you
ignore the CLOSURE ACT you are breaking the law.
THE PROCESS:
- Owners in the ST. Laurent portion of Twin Beach
Subdivision: The road is open all the
way to the end of the St. Laurent subdivision Lot #240. Some of you have had access for a few weeks
now and that access continues. - Woodlands is now putting a top coat of gravel on the St.
Laurent portion of the road to achieve smoother and safer driving. They feel
they need to do this because on Monday they are ready to rebuild the Woodlands
portion of Twin Beach Rd. South and the Drivers will be able to transport road
bed materials more quickly and get the job done faster if they have a good
surface to drive on through the St. Laurent portion of the road. As they reach private driveway approaches
they will fill into the approach enough material so as to create a parking spot
for owners who are visiting their properties. In his way owners will not be in
the way of the Transport Trucks. - Owners will be notified by the RM that the road
has reached their property and that they can start going in at any time Monday
to Sunday from 8AM to 6 PM. - ALL Woodlands Owners must first stop by the RM
office in woodlands and fill out a Property Access Form and to have their
Property Classification verified. This
Access Form will grant you entry past IMPACT SECURITY who is still out there
enforcing the RESTRICTED ENTRY decree. THIS IS A ONE TIME REQUIREMENT AND DOES
NOT HAVE TO BE DONE FOR SUBSEQUENT VISITS. - There are approximately 18 Class #4 properties
in Woodlands. Those people in Woodlands who are CLASS #4 and still want to
visit their property to retrieve belongings will need to have their entry MADE
BY APPOINTMENT and supervised by a member appointed by the OFFICE of the
FIRE COMMISION. The actions to remove
any personal belongings will be either GRANTED or NOT GRANTED by the site
SUPERVISOR. BE very clear, that the
supervisor is there for your safety and has the right to say..”NO, you should
not go in there risking your life to save material possessions”. This will be the last time that the Fire
Commissioner’s Office will give such Supervision for Site Visits. THIS VISIT IS NOT MEANT TO BE FOR THE PURPOSE
OF REPAIRING OR REBUILDING YOU PROPERTY.
WE HAVE NOT REACHED THAT STAGE YET BECAUSE THE FLOOD IS NOT OVER YET. - Of course we realize that enforcing the CLOSURE
ACT 24/7 is a difficult challenge and some owners will try to sneak in by themselves
to remove things. If you do so, and the
building collapses or you fall and hurt yourself or get trapped in any way, of
course your call for help from 911 will happen but you will be prosecuted under
the ACT and you will not be able to hold the Province or the RM liable for your
injuries or death because you contravened a Provincial CLOSURE ORDER in a
RESTRICTED ACCESS FLOOD ZONE. This
applies to ST.Laurent owners who the Office of the Fire Commissioner knows,
have violated the ACT just by seeing THE EVIDENCE THAT work has been carried out on Buildings designated as Class #4. If you got permission to repair those
buildings, no problem, if you didn’t and contravened the Act, I don’t know how
that transgression will be addressed at this time. - I will be contacting “VAL, the appraiser” to let
her know that very soon she will be able to get to the Woodlands portion of her
list and that appointment scheduling can commence. Al Caron will be assisting Val and her
clients in gaining entry to the properties to be appraised. Val will have her
own Permission Card granting access to properties but owners who want to
accompany her during the appraisal visit must get permission as stated above
from the RM. Just for clarification, you
only have to fill out this form once and not for every visit thereafter. You should bring some identification with you
when going to the RM to prove you are actually the owner. A copy of a tax bill or hydro bill will
suffice. - I would like you all to know that this process
was a collaborative effort by our Flood Action Committee, the RM of Woodlands,
and the Office of the FIRE COMMISSION.
It was done for the purpose of your personal safety. It was also granted on the spirit of TRUST
and CO-OPERATION. I foresee in the
future that such collaborative solutions will occur again for other issues that
will certainly arise. Our Committee’s
REPUTATION and CREDIBILITY rests on you, the owners, to comply with this
established process.
I WILL BE POSTING THIS COMMUNIQUE ON OUR WEBSITE AS WELL: www.twinlakesbeach.ca
