– Man claims hookups were done legally –

(OSOYOOS TIMES — April 18, 2007) –

By Julie TurnerrnOsoyoos Times

At a special open meeting last Thursday morning, Council met to give first three readings to two bylaw amendments to deal with someone it claims has illegally connected up to the Town's water and sewer services.
At Monday's regular meeting Council adopted the amendments and authorized the Town's Director of Operations to terminate the man's water and sewer services.
They will be shut off April 24 for failure to comply with the Town's bylaws, failure to pay fees for those services, connecting without applying for a permit and paying inspection fees, and non-inspection of the connections and illegal use.
But the person at the centre of the issue claims he has already paid for the services and thinks the Town is being unreasonable.
According to the Community Charter, the Town has an obligation to establish guidelines for reasonable notice “ which Council determined to be seven days “ before shutting off water supply or a sewer connection of anyone who does not comply with the bylaw.
The Town can also refuse to turn on the water or restore the sewer connection until the offender complies with the bylaw and has paid any fees and charges owing. Fees for termination of a water or sewer connection are $500.
The issue relates to a man who allegedly hooked his home onto the Town's water and sewer service without the Town's approval.
Approximately a month ago, the Town claims Josip Erdeljac connected his trailer at the Industrial Park to the municipal water and sewer services. The Town also claims Erdeljac is violating the Industrial Park's zoning bylaw by living in a trailer on his lot (the area is not zoned residential), and he has also failed to obtain the necessary building permit to put any structure on the lot.
Town Planner Alain Cunningham says Erdeljac has been sent a registered letter inviting him to apply for a development permit and building permit because the Town understands he wants to live where he is. Erdeljac does have an option to live at the Industrial Park provided he has a business and lives within the building that contains the business, Cunningham explains.
He adds Erdeljac attended an earlier special Council meeting to state his case, which Council did consider. But after hearing his case, Council decided it would still consider cutting off service; now it legally needs to amend its bylaw to look after this.
At Monday's meeting, Council voted to invite Erdeljac to speak to the Town at a special hearing to be held at Town Hall on Monday, April 23.
Erdeljac says he wants to build a welding shop and have his living quarters up at the Industrial Park, and claims he has already given the Town professionally drawn-up plans with measurements to show what his intentions are, and he feels he has already paid for the water and sewer services, which were hooked up to the property back in the early 1990s.
However, he says in 2003 he obtained approval to subdivide the lot and sold one half and kept the other half, where he is now residing. He now needs the hook-up to service the side he is living on. He claims his hook-up is legal and has been there many years.
I want to live there while I build the shop, he says. I want them to tell me what is wrong. If I did not pay for it, all I would have to do is pay for it. He adds, I think court is inevitable.