This website was originally developed by a group of owners who were frustrated by the shortcomings of the strata council, which for some years consisted of only three (sometimes only two) people who acted arbitrarily on many issues.
Most of those owners have since moved away. I designed the site. While I largely agreed with the frustrations of these owners, I did not agree with the negative and highly antagonistic tone of some of the posts. I’ve taken over management of the site and removed the posts that I felt were unnecessarily hostile.
I’m George Pytlik and I’m currently on council. My personal view is that we can achieve more by seeking solutions and common ground than we can by simply criticizing everything. Let’s talk about things and see if there’s a solution we can all agree on. Some people are not good at teamwork, but it’s the first step in resolving conflicts.
Hamilton: A great location
Windsor Garden is a great place to live. In terms of location, it’s close enough to Vancouver that you can get there in half an hour or so except at rush hour (which sadly starts way too early these days). It’s close to North Delta and Surrey. While the Queensborough bridge makes travel to Burnaby and New West a bit of a challenge, it’s useful to be that close.
I’ve lived here with my lovely wife since 2009, and work hard to look after my unit. I’ve served on council twice. I’m also on the board of a national association, and run two businesses. I like to ride my road bicycle, and appreciate that there are some safe bike lanes in the area.
Quality construction
The units here were well built. They are spacious. A plumber told me, on examining the furnace, that this furnace was the Cadillac of models at the time the complex was built. In addition, although the plumbing uses Poly-B pipes which were standard at that time, the builders employed copper elbows which was another sign of high quality construction. Just try to find that kind of quality in newly constructed townhomes!
Looking forward
My goal as a strata council member is to help owners protect and increase the value of their property. I believe this is the primary purpose of any strata council.
We have some work to do. The buildings are getting older. There has been some neglect in areas that concern me. The roof continues to be substandard, causing water to run in behind fascia boards, leading to rot. A new roof will be necessary well before the standard age for a shingle roof. Windows and the building envelope itself will eventually need to be addressed as well. In the meantime, we can take care of things that are easily within reach of our budget.
I’ll be using this site to communicate ways that owners can protect their investment, to convey useful information that is not confidential, and to hear from owners about areas of concern or support. Feel free to get in touch.
Since many owners are not fluent in English, I’m also employing an AI-driven translation service to translate the site into Mandarin. But if you write to me, please do so in English!
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