The Village of Lytton is celebrating a significant milestone: its first building permit approved for rebuilding since the devastating 2021 wildfire.
The village’s Oct. 27 letter said Lytton marked the milestone the Friday before (Oct. 20) for the approval of the first building permit for a single-family dwelling. It added the municipality is streamlining some of the website content and checklists to make it easier to apply for a building permit.
READ MORE: Lytton to end state of local emergency 2 years after devastating fire
Lytton ended its state of local emergency in June, nearly two years after the devastating wildfire swept through the village on June 30, 2021. The state of emergency had been renewed weekly since then.
The fire ripped through the community follow three days of record-breaking heat during the now-deadly heat dome. At the time it was the hottest day ever recorded in Canada at 49.6 C.
The building permit comes just weeks after Lytton residents took the village’s streets Oct. 18 to highlight the roadblocks they’ve faced trying to rebuild.
READ MORE: Lytton artifacts latest roadblock to a rebuild as residents rally
Archeologists have uncovered thousands of artifacts, including a 7,500-year-old spear point, as they dig below what was destroyed by fire in June 2021. Gold miners arrived in the area in 1858, building on the site of the Nlak’pamux First Nation village and its burial grounds.
The site is now protected under B.C.’s Heritage Conservation Act.
Lytton’s council awarded a provincially funded contract in March 2022 to the consulting firm AEW for archeological and heritage monitoring. The firm was formed in 2017 by the Nlaka’pamux Nation Tribal member communities.
READ MORE: B.C. begins cleanup, reconstruction of fire-destroyed Lytton
Mayor Denise O’Connor said residents recognize the area is of archeological and cultural significance to the First Nation.
“The people of the village of Lytton know that and respect that and don’t deny that, but is there not some way that processes can be speeded up?” she asked.
The mayor said many residents in the community feel “totally neglected” since the 2021 fire as other communities burned in more recent fires have already started to rebuild.
– With files from The Canadian Press