Kelowna staff want to demolish Ponderosa
The Ponderosa Motel’s days appear to be numbered. The motel near Parkinson Rec Centre, at 1864 Harvey Avenue, could be knocked down if Kelowna City Council gives approval on Monday.
“Since 2011 when it ceased operations we’ve had a number of calls and complaints. There’s been four fire calls for structure fires, with the Kelowna Fire Department. RCMP have had 110 calls since then, on record,” said Kelowna Bylaw Services Manager, David Gazley. “A lot of them have been complaints directly related to the property being vacated – removal of occupants, things like that.”
Bylaw Officers have responded to 18 calls since 2016. Gazley said, “Much of them have been the same thing – People occupying the premises, graffiti , it being broken into, discarded needles, people driving by a seeing that it’s unsightly.”
Gazley points out that the owner, Witmar Holdings has an approved permit to complete the demolition, and an excavator has been sitting on the property for months but the building remains, “It’s unsightly and it’s basically a nuisance. We’ve tried to work with the owner group and we haven’t had much success in that. We’re waiting for them to demolish it and they’re not doing it so we’re really at wits end on how to move this forward.”
If Council gives the go-ahead, Witmar Holdings will be given 30 days to complete the demolition. After that time, the City will demolish the building and give the bill to Witmar Holdings.
