A West Vancouver family’s dream home has turned into a nightmare.
Marc LaTorre and his young family moved into the home in April 2024, but that October, the property was destroyed in a powerful atmospheric river that flooded into the basement.
“Honestly, it’s hard to think we had any good times here,” LaTorre told CityNews.
The home on Mathers Avenue has since been torn down, and now LaTorre is caught up in red tape, dealing with the District of West Vancouver.
He wants to rebuild a home on the land but is battling bureaucracy at City Hall.
The district requires LaTorre to obtain several permits. So far, he says he’s paid $78,000 in fees for six permits, and that doesn’t include the building permit.
“It’s insane. If anything, they’ve put roadblocks in front of us the entire time. It’s been incredibly stressful, incredibly time-consuming. I wake up in the middle of the night with my heart pounding out of my chest — stressed. Every day we talk to the district, and it seems like they’ve added a new hoop they want us to jump through. It’s been the worst experience of my entire life, by far.”
Currently, the district is not issuing a building permit unless LaTorre agrees to multiple conditions.
“They gave us a new requirement that we had to sign a covenant on the property stating the property has to be built a certain way and no one can alter certain aspects of that property. On top of that, they want us to sign a wide-ranging release that we will not sue them for any flooding or erosion of our property — which is crazy to me. And it doesn’t say anywhere in it, ‘future flooding or erosion.’ It just says ‘any flooding or erosion.’ It’s incredibly wide-ranging.”
That means agreeing his home is a flood risk, which would impact both the value of the land and his insurance premiums.
He admits his bank account has gone into overdraft, and he doesn’t agree with the conditions. Adding, had the district maintained the flooded culvert properly, the situation could have been avoided.
“We have no idea if they’ve ever been in there to clear it out, and that thing was built in the 50s.”
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LaTorre blames the district and is frustrated that it has previously described the storm as a one-in-a-100-year event that won’t happen again.
“It’s 100 per cent the district’s responsibility to clear out that culvert. It’s 100 per cent the reason why my home and many other homes and businesses flooded. It’s 100 per cent the district’s fault. There’s no question about it,” he claimed.
LaTorre says he secured a construction loan prior to tearing down the property, and was told it could take as long as 15 months to build a new home. But if the building permit is not approved soon, he stresses the family will have to abandon the idea and property entirely.
“It has to be finished by a certain date. That date was established through the builder. Now we’re down to 13 months. It’s very stressful. We might lose everything.”
LaTorre says if, eventually, the home doesn’t get built, he would consider suing.
“I think we’re going to have to, but are we going to have any money to do that? It’s very expensive to sue, and they’re bleeding us dry. They’re constantly changing their mind about what they need. They constantly want new things. Are they going to refund any of the money for any of those fees and deposits? I don’t know. We’re building this house based on a loan from a bank. If that loan gets pulled, we have to come up with the mortgage that’s left on this, which is over $1 million. I don’t think we’ll have the money.”
He adds crews have come in and cleared out the culvert, but he isn’t sure what the district plans to do next.
“Are they going to upgrade the infrastructure? Are they going to have a maintenance program where they come in and clear it out once a year? We don’t know what the plan is. They’ve been tight-lipped. No one will tell us. Are they doing any sort of assessment of the culvert channels to make sure they’re properly maintained or properly sized for that matter?”
LaTorre says he’s also asked the district to buy the land from him, but it refused.
“It’s been the worst experience of my entire life, by far.”
He explains he didn’t get the insurance payout he thought he would, even though the policy for total loss, valuables and other items is $1.59 million.
“There’s an exclusion in the policy which they don’t give to you originally, they send it with the paperwork later, and it said that if it’s an overland body of water, like if any water touches the ground first before it goes in your house, then you only get $100,000, no matter what. That was never explained to us.”
LaTorre and his family have put their belongings in storage and are staying with his mother and stepfather as they try to save money.
The district would not provide a comment to CityNews due to potential legal action.