Why a TNRD director and former Tobiano owner is suing the golf community
The regional district director who oversees Tobiano is in suing the golf resort community over his failed efforts to build a home there.
A trial spurred by Thompson Nicola Regional District director Michael Grenier started late last month and continued for nearly two weeks in a legal action that started more than six years ago.
It started in 2017 when he was deciding between two house plans for the golf course-fronting lot he owned at Tobiano.
He tried and failed to get approval to build a 3,000 square-foot home after a year-and-a-half of planning with community planners, coming to an end in late 2018.
He filed a notice of claim in BC Supreme Court that year, claiming he was misled into believing he would get an approval for the house he wanted to build. That approval never came.
Though he had long lost ownership of Tobiano, he knew the guidelines governing home designs in the community.
"Plan A," the one he settled on, was more than two feet too tall, according to court documents.
Over several days, lawyers heard from witnesses and scanned email communications between Grenier and staff for Tobiano's current and former owners.
Grenier was elected in 2022 as rural director for Area J, which includes several small communities, including Tobiano.
Though he was once the community's developer and would have regularly dealt with with the in-house building guidelines, his regional district role has little, if any, say over Tobiano's zoning. The community is privately owned as one of the few resort communities in BC, and community planning is overseen by its owner, Diverse Properties Ltd.
But the dispute over the home he wanted to build, and his eventual decision to back out of the plan altogether, started long before he was elected to represent the area.
Grenier was looking at designs for his Tobiano lot in November 2017 and shared them with Michael Ternier, owner of Kamlands Holdings Ltd. Ternier's company took over Tobiano after it went into receivership. Though "Plan B" would have complied with Tobiano's guidelines, according to Grenier's notice of claim, Ternier said he preferred the first one.
In the months Grenier tried to finalize his plan and seek a permit, Tobiano was taken over by Lower Mainland developer Diverse Properties Ltd.
Planners would ultimately refuse to give him the variance he needed to build the nearly 30-foot-tall home and Grenier gave up on his attempts to build at Tobiano by October 2018.
Lawyers for the defendants, which includes three people and Kamlands itself, argue Grenier simply failed to abide by zoning guidelines and failed to show accurate designs so it could consider approving his plans.
Grenier, however, said it amounted to more than simply a strict adherence to building guidelines.
The refusal to allow his home to be built as planned was the result of "tortious interference" by Ternier, Brittany Friesen and James Funk, he alleges. All three are named as defendants and were employees on Tobiano's Design Review Committee, according to his claim.
Grenier further argues he was transparent with his plans for the home.
When he finally gave up trying to get approval at Tobiano, he built another home on his own Cherry Creek property. The more than 5,000 square-foot home was built in 2020 and BC Assessment pegs its value at roughly $1.5 million.
He's seeking damages for the costs of attempting to build at Tobiano, including building code consultations, excavation, planning and engineering. He is also seeking to be reimbursed for his family's "accommodation" costs for the time between when his Tobiano home would have been built and when the Cherry Creek home was ready. Lastly, he's also seeking to be reimbursed for servicing costs to the Cherry Creek property, which includes septic, hydro and the driveway he had built, according to his notice of claim.
Grenier was absent from at least two regional district meetings while the trial was ongoing, but it's not over yet.
Lawyers will return for closing arguments at a date yet to be determined.
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