A little bit of pressure applied by the Village on the owner of the River Bed Bistro has resulted in a demolition date of Nov. 16.
About two weeks ago it was announced that the owner had received notice that if the property wasn’t cleaned up by Oct. 26 the village would take action and send an invoice.
Cathy Cowan, Keremeos CAO said there have been several conversations with the owners over the last several weeks and throughout the process.
Cowan told councillors at Monday night’s meeting that the owner and a hired contractor had been to the village office that day and applied for a demolition permit.
“Work should start on November 16,” she said.
The bistro was destroyed by fire in mid-June of this year. The fire was called in at about 3:30 a.m. and although the fire hall is located just across the street, by the time firefighters arrived on scene the fire was already in advanced stages.
“Within minutes after we arrived on scene the second floor exploded into flames. About a half hour after first arriving the roof and the second floor collapsed,” Jordy Bosscha, the Keremeos fire chief said a day after the fire.
The fire was immediately deemed suspicious by the RCMP.
After a several month investigation it was determined no charges would be laid against the owner.
The property is listed under a numbered company 0961380 BC Ltd. on the Keremeos tax roll.
Over the last few years several other fires have broken out at the building ,which housed a restaurant and several guest suites.
A fire in 2011 resulted in arson charges for the owner at the time Inderjit Chema for pouring gasoline on the walls and threatening to light it up.
In 2014 a fire ripped through the top floor of the building. The cause is not known and no charges were laid.
