'We're in the rebuild': Finally, good news about Lytton

Mike Blaschuk is excited.

Nearly two years after Lytton burned down, signs that forbid stopping whlie driving through the ruined town are coming down. On Friday, Blaschuk—Lytton’s new recovery manager—will visit the local school to pick up new signs that will go up in their place.

He doesn’t know what exactly the signs will look like. In a way, it doesn’t matter: because they signal a new era of hope for a village that has had a rough two years.

“I can hardly wait,” he said last week at a community meeting.

(The school sits just south of the townsite and wasn’t damaged in the fire. It has remained open, continuing to serve students and families from the still-populated surrounding area.)

The new signs are coming as displaced residents finally start to get a clear understanding of when, where, and what they’ll be able to rebuild.

The village lifted its state of emergency last week, a move that signaled a shift of control away from the bureaucratic forces that have stalled the recovery and towards landowners and residents.

Today, Tyler writes about how Lytton’s rebuild looks set to roll out, and what that will mean over the coming years.

Meanwhile, the Village of Lytton and Thompson Nicola Regional District have sued CP Rail, CN Rail, and Transport Canada for damages caused by the fire. They claim negligence by the rail companies and Transport Canada caused the fire. A response hasn’t been filed and the claims haven’t been proven. You can read a story on that here.

Finally, rebuilding

Phase two beckons. Finally.

After seemingly unending work to remove debris, remediate land, and review archeological discoveries, Lytton is finally moving into a second phase of its recovery, the village’s new recovery manager told residents at an online community meeting last week.

“We’re in the rebuild,” recovery manager Mike Blaschuk said.

It’s a huge step for a project that has been plagued by logistical, bureaucratic, and practical hurdles since the village burned on June 30, 2021.

While soil-and-archeology work is continuing on many properties, Blaschuk told those at the meeting that the “majority” of sites have been adequately remediated, meaning contamination is no longer a major concern. Final archeology reports are still coming, but enough is known now that “many properties” with limited or no archeology finds can be filled with material over the coming months.

The lifting of the emergency order will allow for actual rebuilding to begin on lots where that first process is complete.

“This is now moving into a construction project,” Blaschuk said. “Other than some of the backfill, this is going to start looking like a normal residential subdivision and construction project.”

The fences that have barred access to most of Lytton will be coming down, Mayor Denise O’Connor said. And that will set the stage for property owners to get back on their land and start remaking their lives. Work will ramp up to get water, sewer, and power systems fully operational, and plans will be made for businesses and government services—although those are expected to take longer.

Hydro service is expected to be completed within the month, and a boil water advisory has been removed. The next step is to get services fully operational so new buildings can be connected to them.

“We need to get the water and sewer systems running so people can start their build, [and] know they’ll have connections,” Blaschuck said. While some repairs must still be made, he said those don’t need to delay getting the systems working.

“We’re focusing on getting people back in their homes as the priority.”

While insured property owners will be in charge of their own rebuilds, discussions are also starting on the construction of affordable homes in the village and the aid that can be given to those who didn’t have insurance.

Blaschuk said he recently met with BC Housing officials, along with Lytton First Nation to discuss those topics, including the creation of subsidized rentals and non-market housing.

BC Housing, he said, presented a range of options for Lytton to consider. Potential funding sources include cheaper construction funds, financing help, and operating grants.

Meanwhile, Blaschuk said the message for homeowners is simple: “Get your building permits in, get your building permits in, get your building permits in. It’s going to start going pretty fast.”

New village, new construction

Immediately following the fire, then-Premier John Horgan spoke about rebuilding Lytton to be a fire-resilient and energy efficient “community of the future.” The remarks were criticized locally, and many were rankled by an apparent focus on high tech solutions, rather than speed and keeping costs as low as possible. A village bylaw that would have set high standards for new builds was overturned by a then-newly elected council who opted for more permissive building standards.

This month, though, property owners learned more about how they and the village might be able to meet the ambitions set out two years ago. The federal government has promised significant grants to rebuilding homeowners who are seeking to build structures that emphasize energy efficiency and fire resilience.

Those in Lytton and the surrounding area who lost their homes are eligible for grants to help with the financial cost of building net zero or fire-resilient homes. Net zero homes would include solar powers on roofs, along with designs that emphasize the efficient use of power. (Homes would be connected to the larger power grid, and excess energy from the solar panels would feed directly into it. Homeowners could also draw on it when they need energy beyond that produced by the panels.)

Lytton is also exploring the possibility of creating a solar farm that could be accessed by all residents and be located in a location with more sun than the townsite.

Fire resilient homes would employ design and materials intended to decrease the likelihood of it burning in any future fire. (Most of the buildings that burned in the fire were decades old; some homes were built a century ago.)

Two levels of net zero homes are possible. A home built to the highest level, with fire resiliency, would be eligible for up to $86,500 in grants. The builder of a fire-resilient home, with no net zero eligibility, could get $10,000. However, most of the money would come at the end of building, rather than at the start, meaning owners will have to come up with the money needed to pay for the material prior to receiving the grant.

The money also won’t help some others with the creation of net zero or fire resistant rental homes. A resident who submitted a question at last week’s meeting pointed out that the program is only open to those seeking to rebuild their primary homes. Builders of much-needed rental homes aren’t currently eligible for the grants; the questioner suggested that could disadvantage renters, who may either face higher rents to cover rebuilding costs, or end up in a building not constructed to energy-efficient and fire-resilient standards.

Jane Mather, with Pacifican, the federal government agency in charge of the grant program, acknowledged in the meeting the fact that rental properties aren’t eligible for the subsidies. She and Blaschuk both said conversations about the issue are continuing.

Back to business

A big reason why the Lytton fire was so devastating—and why the rebuilding of the community is so crucial for the surrounding area—is because the village was the commercial hub for a much larger region. Restoring that business heart will be a challenge because of the small-scale nature of many of the businesses.

Blaschuk said that property owners have told the recovery team that “in order to get the buildings back, we have to help with the viability.” That means ensuring that rebuilding makes good business sense and can generate enough revenue to make up for the considerable expense.

Blaschuk said they’re working with proponents to “help tip the balance” to ensure that rebuilding is financially appealing. That includes discussions with BC Housing about how to create mixed-use buildings, with commercial and business spaces sharing a building with residential uses. Such buildings frequently include retail outlets on the ground floors and residential apartments above.

That could pave the way for the creation of a denser community and larger buildings. Lytton was already relatively compact, with a layout and structure well-suited to modern community building efforts. The rebuild could intensify that.

The timeframe for that work will ramp up soon, but is expected to intensify next year.

The village is also finalizing plans for a temporary fire hall. Blaschuk said they’re considering whether that fire hall will serve just the village, or be suited to more regional use.

A temporary village hall is also set to finally open in the coming days. And village staff are also going to start working on all the paperwork and consultation needed to start rebuilding other government buildings in a more permanent way.

“We need to play catch up. We feel we’re about a year behind. We need to make that year up.”

Meanwhile, the Village of Lytton and Thompson Nicola Regional District have sued CP Rail, CN Rail, and Transport Canada for damages caused by the fire. They claim negligence by the rail companies and Transport Canada caused the fire. A response hasn’t been filed and the claims haven’t been proven. You can read a story on the lawsuit here.