Property owners on edge

Property owners in Naramata are looking for answers as they get hit by excessive water runoff.

Few of those property owners have sustained damage to the extent of Lyle Armour, who lives on Winifred Road — directly below a section of the KVR Trail which has been closed since Friday due to runoff washing away part of the trail.

Castanet last spoke to Armour in early February, when "once-in-a-lifetime" water runoff was beginning to flood his backyard for a second-straight year. 

During Thursday's rainstorm in the area, part of the hillside behind Armour's home eroded heavily, to the point where mud was flowing through his yard. 

"The rainfall last week just exacerbated a situation we know has been happening all along," he said. "I have been mentioning how the KVR is going to wash out because of this drainage problem for over a year."

Two blocks below Armour's home on Gammon Road, orchard owner Jake Van Westen has been dealing with runoff on his property that has flooded his orchard and now his home.

Right next door, Lang Vineyards is also dealing with water seeping into its vines from across the street. 

"That's not good for the crop as well, because it doesn't need water continually," general manager Mike Lang said.

All of those property owners told Castanet they think the water runoff is due to a new subdivision being built just above the KVR trail called Outlook, and raised concern about another new subdivision called Kettle Ridge.

"They've been taking out all the trees, digging up the ground. They've moved some of the ditches around that are already up there on the KVR trail. Since that, we've been getting all the water coming down here," Lang said.

Outlook developer Randy Kowalchuk said he thinks the issue causing erosion is the snowpack and heavy precipitation since last spring.

"When you have your prized possession being damaged, of course you're upset... And it's very easy to pick on the person that's moved in last above you," Kowalchuk said.

"The design guidelines for subdivisions are extremely rigorous... I think one of the biggest issues we're seeing, throughout the valley, is ditches have not been maintained for a number of years."

Property owners also feel governing bodies have been "passing the buck" about handling the issue, and said someone needs to face the worsening erosion in the area. 

"I would hope that this is enough to wake up people before somebody actually does get hurt, before there's a catastrophic failure on the KVR," Armour said.

Regional District Okanagan Similkameen board chair Karla Kozakevich said she toured the area on Tuesday with MLA Dan Ashton. 

The provincial government is responsible for water flow around the KVR trail, and Kozakevich said the province is reviewing drainage system for Kettle Ridge on Wednesday and will be forwarding her their findings.