More than three years after a wildfire devastated Lytton, B.C., Mayor Denise O’Connor is calling for the province to cut red tape that’s slowing down rebuilding.
Despite funding from all levels of government, O’Connor says only a handful of residents have returned to the Interior B.C. village.
“The rebuilding efforts in Lytton remain unacceptably slow,” O’Connor said at a news conference on Tuesday. “The sluggish pace has made it impossible for many residents to return to their homes. Many are feeling hopeless and defeated.”
According to O’Connor, there is a legal requirement for each site to undergo an archeological study before it can be rebuilt — studies she says that are costly and slowing down the village’s recovery. In three years, 15 building permits have made it through the archeological process, and only three homes are ready for families to return to.
Now, O’Connor is asking the province to speed …