Kelowna multi-millionaire loses appeal against highrise neighbour

Charles Fipke made his fortune in diamonds and is one of Kelowna’s richest citizens.

But his efforts to fight off the Aqua highrise development next door to his waterfront home has failed a second time, this time through an appeal to the B.C. Supreme Court.

He first tried to stop – or at least downsize – the three towers in the Aqua development by filing a lawsuit against Aqua Resort Ltd. and the City of Kelowna in the summer of 2021. He lost that in a ruling last March.

READ MORE: Kelowna multimillionaire who lost court case stuck with highrise neighbours

His appeal to the B.C. Supreme Court – with a panel of three judges – ruled the lower court made the right decision.

That judgement was issued today, Jan. 19.

At issue was land that was washed away in a 1948 flood and now lies under Okanagan Lake.

Fipke argued that the submerged land should not be counted in determining how many units could be built in the Aqua project.

The first court ruling said it could be counted and the higher court agreed.

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