(LEVI LANDRY / iNFOnews.ca)

The mayor has urged the province to ease red tape on a massive development proposal in Kamloops, but a land decision in November left the project with a massive road block.

Reid Hamer-Jackson said he asked provincial housing minister Ravi Khalon about the project that could see up to 2,000 homes on the site of the former Tranquille Sanitorium. He's spoken with the developer and wants to see construction started, citing the need to meet provincially-mandated housing targets.

He said the land owner Ignition Group has invested millions over seven years to get the project moving without getting shovels in the ground.

"We're looking for housing, housing, housing, well we've got 1,500 to 2,000 houses that could be done out there," Hamer-Jackson said. He claimed the project could have a $1.2 billion economic impact.

He got the figure from Tim McLeod of Ignition Group, but it's not clear how that figure was arrived at. In 2021, the company said the project would bring around $600 million to the local economy.

McLeod, who also lives on the property with his wife, refused to comment when reached by iNFOnews.ca.

The Tranquille Sanitorium site is sometimes simply referred to as Tranquille, while others might call it Padova City. The site is on the western edge of Kamloops, past the airport and bordering the Dewdrop Range. The Tranquille River passes through the site.

Ignition envisions a community surrounded by farm land on the banks of Kamloops Lake. With the Tranquille River running through the subdivision, the 2020 concept plan includes a "farm hub," orchards, pastures and a winery.

The inclusion of farmland in the community plan wasn't enough to convince the province's Agricultural Land Commission to give Ignition the approval.

It's the latest in a series of proposals by the company to rebuild the site since it took ownership through a court-ordered sale more than 20 years ago, then under the name BC Wilderness Tours.

Despite the mayor's desire to lobby the province, the development might not see a single building raised until the land commission gives its approval.

READ MORE: The deep, dark and mysterious history of Tranquille Sanatorium and psychiatric institution

The commission gives rulings on all land within the province dedicated to agriculture, deciding whether a property can be redeveloped or it should continue under farm use.

In the case of the Tranquille property, it's given partial approval to Ignition proposals over the years. Since 2006, its proposals have included pairing a 1,300-home subdivision with amenities like a 52-hectare golf course, a farmer's market, an RV park and an equestrian park.

None of those approvals have resulted in development, and the most recent 2020 concept appears on its face to be an effort to appeal to the commission's stringent farm use requirements.

The 2020 concept plan for the Tranquille site touts a suburban neighbourhood entwined with agriculture.

Image Credit: Tranquille on the Lake

The commission, which said the land has "tremendous agricultural potential," refused Ignition's latest proposal in 2020, then again in November 2023 when asked to reconsider.

In its 2022 decision, the commission noted the developer has a pattern of adding "continuous" efforts to exclude more land from the agricultural reserve. The commission has already allowed a removal of 32 hectares from the farm land reserve, but the newest application increased that to 51 hectares.

The newest proposal "fragments agricultural area and intersperses it with development."

Ignition said it wanted to maximize profits, while reducing the cost of remediating the old hospital and townsite back to viable farm land, according to the decision. It's not the commission's job to worry about the developer's economic concerns, the panel noted.

"While the panel recognizes that there are significant challenges with developing the properties for residential purposes, the continued lack of progress to farm the site since 1989 demonstrates a lack of assurances that the agricultural benefits included in the proposal will ever be realized, even if the appropriate conditions were ordered," the decision read.

Ignition's plans include both a farm development, like a winery and an orchard, and residential builds, but the commission said there's nothing stopping Ignition from starting the agricultural portion of the project.

READ MORE: PADOVA CITY: Political, economic scandal once loomed over Kamloops Tranquille farm

"The commission is concerned that despite the significant availability of arable agricultural land, little movement has been made to farm these portions," the decision read.

Within months of the 2022 decision, Ignition and wine industry giant Andrew Peller Ltd. announced plans to study the Tranquille site for its most viable vineyard lands.

McLeod with Ignition refused to comment when asked in December for an update on the study.

Larger than 180 hectares, the property that once hosted a tuberculosis sanatorium, and later a psychiatric hospital, also included a community fitted with a sprawling farm, a school and its own fire department.

Once a Secwepemc village site, then a ranch in the 1800s, and finally the dilapidated property it is today, Ignition took ownership of the site through a court-ordered sale. The company bought it for $1.5 million.

According to Hamer-Jackson, Housing Minister Khalon is aware of the Tranquille property and described it as a "complex" project. Whether his ministry has any role to play in the site and its potential development isn't clear.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Levi Landry or call 250-819-3723 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

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