State of emergency in Sunshine Coast's sinkhole neighbourhood ends after 3 years

A state of local emergency that has been renewed weekly for almost three years in the sinkhole-riddled Seawatch neighbourhood in the District of Sechelt has ended.

The state of emergency was declared Feb. 15, 2019, as the neighbourhood was ordered to hastily evacuate, leaving 14 pricey ocean-view homes above Sechelt Inlet on the Sunshine Coast north of Metro Vancouver empty, and virtually worthless.

"As far as Seawatch is concerned, they just threw us out of there and put a fence in front and put a lock on it and left and forgot about us," said Chris Moradian, who was one of the residents forced to leave his home.

He and his family moved in with his in-laws in Vancouver where they've been ever since the surprise evacuation order was issued to protect residents from landslides and shifting house foundations.

"It was a state of confusion, state of shock, betrayal," he said of the order. "Just in a matter of moments your entire life savings vanished in front of you."

B.C. Supreme Court decision

Last month, Justice Geoffrey Gomery ruled that the state of local emergency, or SOLE, had been unlawful since May 2019 — three months after it was initially declared.

"The continuing renewal of the SOLE has provided an excuse for inaction on the part of the district and the province," wrote Gomery in his decision.

"In the absence of any additional  information or developments, the circumstances can no longer reasonably be  characterized as an emergency," he wrote.

A permanent fence was installed around the affected neighbourhood, but according Moradian, people have been entering the area, damaging homes and stealing belongings throughout the last three years.

"Looters are going in and out of that subdivision every day," he said, claiming that the district and police haven't worked hard enough to secure the property. "Nobody seems to care."

Following the B.C. Supreme Court Jan. 10 decision, the minister of public safety approved the district's requests to extend the state of emergency for weeks — right up until Feb. 11. But that has now ended.

"The recent judgment from Justice Gomery means that it is no longer reasonable to keep approving the state of emergency without additional information from the district," said a spokesperson with Emergency Management B.C., a department of the Ministry of Public Safety.

A spokesperson with the District of Sechelt sent CBC News a written statement, saying it is "considering what steps are to be taken in response to the B.C. Supreme Court decision."

Fenced-in, homes virtually worthless

The fence remains up around the neighbourhood and neither a geotechnical assessment, nor remediation has taken place, so it's unclear what the conclusion of the state of emergency will mean for Seawatch property owners, whose dream homes are now valued at just $2 each.

Moradian and many of the other former residents are still embroiled in complex and lengthy litigation related to the Seawatch sinkholes. Some legal actions haven't gone their way, but the main case has yet to be heard by a judge.

Moradian is still hoping to get a resolution to the three-year ordeal, which he said likely means compensation, rather than repairs.

"It's been a very difficult situation and a very costly situation for everybody involved," he said. "I have no idea whether restoration of that Seawatch is even possible any longer."