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UPDATE: First rebuild permit issued in Wood Buffalo

Last Updated Aug 16, 2016 at 10:50 am MDT

PHOTO. Sign welcoming residents upon re-entry after a 6 week evacuation due to wildfire. NICOLE BAGGIO. Staff.

The first permit allowing a home to be rebuilt in the wake of the wildfire was issued on Thursday, August 11, according to the RMWB.

This first rebuild permit will allow Darrin Eckel, a local home builder and owner of Vis-Star Homes Ltd., to rebuild a home in Wood Buffalo which was one of more than 2,400 destroyed in the wildfire that forced the evacuation of the entire community.

“It has been a long and rocky road to get to this point, but we have worked with the RMWB to make this all come together,” said Eckel.

He is a resident of the Wood Buffalo neighbourhood of Fort McMurray.

“Fort McMurray has been my home for over thirty-five years and I am really happy to be able to contribute to our community this way.”

He said he wanted to be the first to move forward, and to use his own rental property as a sort of guinea pig, so he could test the waters without putting other homeowners through undue stress.

“That’s what my thoughts were: if I can press forward and figure out the process it’d be easier for everyone. And I’m sharing with our builder community also the process and it’s helping everyone else,” he said. “That was my biggest thought process here was to drive forward and as many times as I went into the city and they said, ‘You realize you’re the first one,’ and, yeah, but, you know, we’ve got to push forward.”

Eckel was also the first to get his demolition permit, which he said had its challenges because the RMWB hadn’t worked out exactly what was required for that permit when he was applying for it. Now that they have streamlined and clarified the process for applying for demolition permits it’s much easier.

But there were other hurdles as well. Eckel said he didn’t know that a post-demolition inspection was required to be able to apply for the rebuilding permit. He’s now passing on that information to other builders and homeowners to make sure they know to have the RMWB inspect the site and sign off on it before moving to the next step.

Eckel said he also didn’t expect it to take as long as it did to be verified on the Registry of Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo Builders, a provincial initiative that was announced in the early days of recovery that he didn’t even know he had to register for.

“There’s a process there that you have to go through and it took about three weeks to go through that process where they do scrutinize your company of background checks type style. Three weeks where I couldn’t get my building permit until I was on that list and then finally I got it and then the process moved,” he said.

Residential builders intending to build new homes in the RMWB must complete information disclosure forms (available on the Municipal Affairs website) and submit them to the New Home Buyer Protection Office (NHBPO) before they can get a building permit. Once the forms are reviewed for completeness and accuracy, they are published online in the RMWB Builder Registry.

Eckel said that for anyone who hasn’t yet begun the process he does have some advice and is willing to offer expertise, even if he isn’t able to take on the building of their home as he will only take as many projects as he can reasonably handle.

“My best advice is to find someone and I’m sure they’ll guide you through the process,” he said. “Be patient with them. Everyone’s busy now, especially even getting permits is taking a little bit more time. The RMWB is working really hard, they’re coming out on weekends so you know they’re working extra time to get things out. Be patient and I know everyone’s trying to be patient but it is a process now.”

He said he’s excited and anxious to start the actual rebuilding process and ready to start helping the homeowners who have felt stuck and trapped through the summer as they’ll now be able to see some action and some movement to rebuild their homes.

There are still many homes damaged in the fire for which no demolition permit has been issued but Mayor Melissa Blake said it was important to mark the start of the next phase of recovery even as the earlier phase continues.

“The desire to rebuild our region has been constant since the earliest days of recovery, following the wildfire,” said Blake. “While the process of our region’s rebuild requires a careful approach, I believe an important part of that is to recognize when steps are taken in the right direction and to celebrate them.”

The Chair of the Wood Buffalo Recovery Committee, Jeanette Bancarz, said the issuing of this permit marks an important milestone in the community’s recovery.

“With hundreds of families yet to reach this stage, the Wildfire Recovery Committee and Task Force will be here to support them until they have fully recovered from the wildfire,” said Bancarz.

To date, the RMWB said 1,144 Demolition Permit applications have been received, 1,049 Permits have been issued and 117 Post-Demolition Inspections have been completed across the region. As more demolitions are completed more homeowners will be able to apply for the rebuild permits.

Residents are reminded that the municipal landfill is now open 24 hours a day, seven days a week for commercial waste. Tipping fees are being waived until October 31, 2016, for residential waste material that is brought to the landfill in residential vehicles. Residents can bring their household waste to the landfill from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week.

An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the location of the home to be rebuilt was in Abasand and MyMcMurray apologizes for the error.