Castanet

I read with interest the article on Castanet today about Copper Sky.
The entire development has been a joke since day one. From their original marketing materials that falsely depicted a West Kelowna shangri-la to the finished product, the development is a sham. Shoddy construction, no respect or consideration for the homeowners that live in the sourrounding area that have to look at that eyesore and now these condo owners are left to pay the bills. And the WFN hides behind their 99-year-lease agreement and says they can't do anything. Another joke!! The original developer is a WFN member and should be publicly shamed for building such a piece of garbage.
Keep digging Castanet.

I dodged a bullet. Last year I was looking for an investment property,I really was considering a unit at Copper Sky. RE agent said,"RE here will never go down...." uh huh...

Woulda made a good spot for a tourist/family attraction like perhaps a waterslide park or something.

The article says that there is a problem with the retaining wall? Is it referring to the giant Allen (gravity) block wall along Old Okanagan Highway?

I couldn't beleive when they put that up. Even properly laid and drained with the soil mesh, it's just a bunch of blocks stacked on top of each other. no mortar or concrete!

They're great for walls a few feet high, but that wall is 15-20 feet high is some places

Yeah, I really like that statement too by the WFN saying too bad, so sad, you signed a 99 year lease so go suck an egg...

That's the way it works on native land. You sign the lease, you take responsibility for the land.

Why if the property is on WFN land and taxed by WFN is it being called West Kelowna?

Google shows both Westbank and West Kelowna.

OnTheRoadAgain wrote:That's the way it works on native land. You sign the lease, you take responsibility for the land.

That is unless/until the band feels they can make a buck on you or what you were led to believe was yours

Looks like a poor backfill job on the pool .

What I don't understand is how the condo owners could end up paying the bill. Is there some clause in the agreement that says "if it turns out we screwed up and this place is garbage YOU are on the hook to fix it"? I'm scratching my head here. I know everyone involved seems to be passing the buck but come on... Someone should be held responsible for repairs and IMO it shouldn't be the people that bought units.

This is horrible. I feel so bad for the owners. I used to live on Westside and remember thinking how cool the development seemed. We had just bought a different condo and remember being jealous we didnt buy there. Sure glad we didnt. We bought at the Verve. While the Verve ended up totally sucking at least it wasnt as bad as this. We managed to sell at the Verve and now are in a great house without all the problems of strata living. There are alot of positives to strata life as well.

eMeM wrote:What I don't understand is how the condo owners could end up paying the bill. Is there some clause in the agreement that says "if it turns out we screwed up and this place is garbage YOU are on the hook to fix it"?

There are some warranties in place but I'm not sure if something like this would be covered.

eMeM wrote:What I don't understand is how the condo owners could end up paying the bill. Is there some clause in the agreement that says "if it turns out we screwed up and this place is garbage YOU are on the hook to fix it"? I'm scratching my head here. I know everyone involved seems to be passing the buck but come on... Someone should be held responsible for repairs and IMO it shouldn't be the people that bought units.

If the companies involved are either bankrupt or otherwise no longer in business who do you think would have to pay for repairs?

http://www.castanet.net/news/West-Kelow ... nder-siege

The development at Copper Sky is advertised as 'easy living'; residents have found it is anything but easy. They have to put up with closed roads, crumbling pavement and a cracked pool deck.

One homeowner told Castanet that the development is falling apart. "I don't particularly want to live here anymore," he says.

Another woman, who is just renting at Copper Sky, explained many owners of units told her they were upset with the crumbling walls.

"It seems to be taking them a while to fix everything, and you know, it doesn't look like they've done a good job of building it."

Back in 2010 Remple Copper Sky went into receivership and eventually the condos were turned over to KPMG. Vice President Cecil Cheveladave, refused to comment on the construction, stating KPMG never comments to the media during receivership.

The value priced homes were sold until spring of this year. That's when the cracking pool deck and retaining wall were discovered.

Castanet made several calls to get answers about what was happening at the development. No one would answer our questions and everyone told us to talk to KPMG, who were also, not answering questions.

We decided we needed to dig deeper and we went undercover with a hidden camera. Our team acted like they wanted to buy a condo, and even though no one would talk to us about the problems at Copper Sky, they were happy to take us around as perspective buyers.


Photo: Jennifer Zielinski
On the day we went shopping the realtor told a group of 'buyers' they will start to sell the units again once an assessment on the pool deck and the retaining wall is complete.

"We are just waiting to hear exactly what the issue is, because it's called material latent defect, it is something that is not discernable to the naked eye. If we sell you the unit and then you find out there is a five thousand or ten thousand dollar assessment you're not going to be happy."

If it turns out there is a fault in the wall, apparently, Copper Sky can seek litigation against the structural engineers, the geo-technical engineers and even West Bank First Nation as they all signed off on the development.

The WFN says it won't be their responsibility because the developer signed a 99 year lease. They also referred all calls to KPMG.

Someone will have to pay for the repairs and if Copper Sky can't get the money through litigation and the contingency reserve for the development won't cover the cost, homeowners will be stuck with the bill.

The realtor gave an example that if there are 200 units in the development and if it were to cost one million dollars to repair the wall, it would cost each home owner $5000.

"We are just waiting on the results of the testing, maybe that wall doesn't need to be replaced maybe there is no problem with it, but we are just waiting to hear on all of it," she says.

As for those who thought they got a great deal on the Westside, they are now holding property they can't sell.

One unit owner told Castanet he could try to sell, but it wouldn't be worth it.