FILE PHOTO.

Image Credit: Submitted/City of Kelowna

The City of Kelowna is suing a downtown developer alleging that construction of its 42-storey tower on Water Street has caused cracks in a neighbouring building.

According to a Notice of Claim filed in the BC Supreme Court Jan. 20, the City accuses the developers of Water Street by the Park of causing damage to the century-old firehall next door.

The court documents say the deep excavation of the site has led to settlement issues and cracks have begun to appear in the fire hall.

"At all material times, the (developers) knew or ought to have known that the construction of the development could damage the Fire Hall," the Notice of Claim reads.

Pitched as the tallest building between the Lower Mainland and Calgary, the 42-storey tower at 1660 Water Street is being built by Vancouver firm Orchard Park Properties and the City also names Geopacific Consultants and two other unknown companies in the suit.

The court document says that deep columns were dug to act as a groundwater cutoff and the site has undergone deep excavation.

The city alleges this has caused ground settlement damage to the fire hall which was first noted in March 2023.

The damage includes, "soil erosion, ground movement... (and) cracking of the interior and exterior in the Fire Hall," the Notice of Claim reads.

The Water Street by the Park development sits one kilometre away from where UBC Okanagan is building a tower which has been mired with controversy.

Residents of nearby buildings have been forced out as cracks appeared in walls and multiple lawsuits have since been filed. The university's initial plan was to build a four-storey underground parking garage, but while construction continues the depth of the parking has since been modified.

Downtown Kelowna has soft soil which makes it expensive and time-consuming to build large structures, a UBCO civil engineering professor previously told iNFOnews.ca.

The City claims the developers at Water Street by the Park didn't do their due diligence to make sure the construction didn't damage the fire hall.

The suit also claims the fire hall was damaged by hydraulic fluid that leaked due to a broken seal on a drilling rig.

Damage from the hydraulic fluid was done to the roof membrane, the brickwork and other parts of the fire hall, the court documents say.

The City claims it told the developers about the damage caused by the hydraulic fluid and to cease construction, but it was ignored and had to return with a stop work order.

"At all material times, each of the (developers) owed the (City of Kelowna) a duty to warn that the construction of the development could cause damage to the fire hall, which in turn, could pose a danger to the health and safety of the occupants of the fire hall," the Notice of Claim says.

The City is suing for an undisclosed amount of damages.

Neither the City of Kelowna or Orchard Park Properties responded to iNFOnews.ca's request for comment by deadline.

None of the allegations have been proven in court.

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