Diamond Mountain development falls to landfill concerns in Kelowna

KELOWNA – Not willing to risk a threat to a rare asset, Kelowna council has denied a development that could have threatened the future of the Glenmore landfill.

Despite an aggressive and impassioned defense of the 1,000-unit mixed-use development by Troika CEO Renee Wasylyk, council sided with a utilities staff recommendation not to support a master plan for Diamond Mountain.

During her presentation to Kelowna council, Wasylyk insisted the development offered no health risks to would-be home buyers and presented a last minute rebuttal to the city’s consultant GHD with her own report from a competing consultant Tetra Tech.

Her report questioned the conclusions the city had come to, insisting it had not used the right modelling to predict nuisances.

Wasylyk also said the land would end up as luxury lots if the project were denied, flying in the face of the city’s drive to provide affordable housing.

But even the offer of a covenant that each owner would have registered against their properties, absolving the city of blame for noise, dust and smells from the landfill, didn’t work.

Utilities manager Kevin Van Vliet, during a detailed presentation to council, concluded the city faced increased liability and unknown costs that could reach hundreds of millions of dollars if the landfill were forced to close early because of litigation.

He told council the Ministry of Environment has to act on complaints and would be unlikely to consider a legal covenant as defense.

Council in 2016 approved a plan that would increase the capacity of the landfill and extend its lifespan to at least 75 years.

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