Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Adam Donnelly

BAD NEIGHBOURS

13th Street residents fed up with nuisance property

Apr 1, 2021 | 3:37 PM

KAMLOOPS — On Monday (Mar. 29), Kamloops RCMP and the Southwest District ERT raided a 13th Street property and seized weapons, drugs, cash and stolen property. Now, neighbours who live near the residence that was raided are speaking up, concerned for their safety. CFJC Today met with a group of neighbourhood residences who are fed up and want the problem properly dealt with.

Early evening on Monday RCMP, including the Southeast District Emergency Response Team, descended upon 990 13th Street.

“We were traumatized at first because of the big bang,” neighbour Karen Repka explains. “For four hours [RCMP] were just non-stop, doing their procedures, They were doing what they had to do next door and making sure we were all safe.”

After a thorough search of the property, police seized a number of items, including weapons, money, drugs and stolen goods. Neighbours say the unsavory activity this property draws has been causing problems for years.

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“You can’t leave anything out at night,” Diana Van Dyke says. “If you have a picnic, you bring everything out and everything back in again. You can’t leave anything outside. They stole garbage cans.”

“We had a young man — about two weeks ago, my husband and I were working in the garden — and he OD’d,” Repka says.

According to Repka, the neighbourhood has been trying to get the City to take action on the property for years. City of Kamloops Community Safety Supervisor Kevin Beeton explains his department is working with police in an effort to address the concerns of the neighbours.

“The City is aware of the property through our partnership with the RCMP,” Beeton says. “We have worked with residents on 13th Street to come to a resolution on this specific property. We’ve met with the homeowner on multiple occasions and offered our assistance through the city and with our partner agencies.”

CFJC Today reached out to the owner of the property for an interview. However, he declined to be interviewed, then asked CFJC for details of the raid that occurred on March 29th. That excuse isn’t good enough for Repka.

“For the landowner to say he knows nothing… I have binders and binders of paperwork,” Repka says. “He knows!”

Frustration in the neighbourhood continues to grow as residents search for a solution. Meanwhile, the City of Kamloops says it has explored a number of avenues to try and deal with this property.

“Including the Good Neighbour Bylaw, which could mean unsightly property. It could mean the nuisance behaviour. It could mean those calls of service from those agencies,” Beeton says. “Those could all mean fines for the property owner.”

CFJC Today asked if the City has used any of those measures against the landlord. Beeton’s response: “Yes we have, yes.”