An eyesore in downtown Naramata will be given a makeover by a temporary concrete-crushing operation that could make some ears sore.
BC Tree Fruits Cooperative has received permission to crush the concrete pad and footings at the site of the old Naramata packinghouse.
“They demolished a few years back the old wood structure that was basically a fire hazard, and it’s been awhile with the rebar and the cement sticking out. It’s not safe, so it needs to get done,” said Karla Kozakevich, the Naramata director for the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen.
Kozakevich and the RDOS board on Thursday approved a temporary-use permit required for the operation.
“For the past year or so, there’s been a lot of people come forward in Naramata asking when the site’s going to get cleaned up,” Kozakevich added.
She noted the company chose to wait until after the summer tourist season to do the job. Neighbours were notified about the proposal, although just one couple filed a formal complaint about the noise the machinery will generate.
According to an RDOS staff report, the work will begin some time after Thanksgiving and take about two weeks to complete. The crusher itself is designed to minimize noise and is permitted to run between 7:30 a.m. and 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday.
The report also states the crushed concrete is to be “redeposited” on site.
The packinghouse was closed in 2008, while the rest of the operations on the site were shuttered in 2009. A three-parcel, two-hectare package of land under it was then listed for sale. The asking price is $7.5 million, according to an online listing.
BC Tree Fruits spokesman Chris Pollock said having the concrete removed will help “make the property available for presentation and sale.”
The co-operative, he added, is “currently in discussions with an interested party about several diverse opportunities for the various segments of the property, and expect that we will be discussing these opportunities with the regional district in the near future.”
Earlier this year, the RDOS announced it had purchased from the co-operative a 1,600 square metre piece of the site on which it had a water pumphouse. The purchase price was $250,000 and resolved a long-running dispute between the two groups.
