Kelowna Mayor Tom Dyas

Image Credit: Submitted/City of Kelowna

The battle over the redevelopment of the former RCMP property in downtown Kelowna took another turn this week with accusations of political interference by Mayor Tom Dyas.

A lawsuit was filed against the city and mayor by 350 Doyle Avenue Holdings and Centurion Appelt (350 Doyle Avenue) Limited Partnership in BC Supreme Court yesterday, Feb. 1.

“This claim concerns unlawful attempts by the City’s recently elected Mayor and Council to delay and/or stop the project for improper reasons, including but not limited to, Mayor Dyas’ political objectives and vision for the property, appeasing a group of Kelowna residents known as the Kelowna Legacy Group and the City’s desire as owner of the property to reacquire the lease at a discounted price and pursue other development opportunities," the lawsuit says.

Redevelopment of the property has been controversial ever since a request for proposals was put forward in 2019.

The Kelowna Legacy Group, which included homebuilder Les Bellamy, and Dyas before being elected mayor in 2022, opposed the redevelopment of the site and called for a reworking of plans for the entire civic precinct in the neighbourhood around City Hall.

That includes the former RCMP site at 350 Doyle Ave.

READ MORE: Kelowna group wants to slow sale of old RCMP building in favour of grander plan

City council rejected the Legacy Group’s proposal and awarded a company that later became 350 Doyle Avenue Holdings the right to develop the site.

The original plan for a 13-storey tower was modified to a narrower 25-storey highrise after objections were raised by Bellamy and others.

The new plans proceeded through the city’s process to a July 26, 2022, public hearing.

On that day, prior to the hearing, the Kelowna Legacy Group held a rally at City Hall opposing the project with Dyas in attendance, the lawsuit says.

At the public hearing, a number of students spoke in favour of the project. City staff and council later heard that they had been paid $250 to attend.

Dyas had run for mayor in 2018 and lost to incumbent Colin Basran.

“Dyas again ran for mayor and, during the course of his campaign, continued to express opposition to the project,” the lawsuit says. “Among other things, Dyas referred during a candidates debate to ‘someone who went for a 12 story and now has a 25 story’ without contributing sufficiently to the city.”

Dyas won the mayor's chair.

After the election, at a Nov. 21 council meeting, an affordable housing agreement for the project was discussed and rejected by city council.

Despite that, the developer continued to spend money to advance the project in order to meet a tight construction deadline at the same time as he was trying to renegotiate the housing agreement.

It wasn’t until April 2023 that the developer heard about the concerns the city had about the payments he had made to the students. That ultimately led to the city cancelling the development permit and extending timelines for a new application and completion of the project.

In September of 2023, the developer launched a court action seeking a judicial review of the city’s actions.

READ MORE: Future of highrise on former Kelowna RCMP site to be decided in court

The new court filing claims the city, mayor and council were motivated to stop the project for improper reasons and that it took improper actions in doing so.

Those reasons, the lawsuit says, included an effort to appease Kelowna Legacy Group, Bellamy and “other personal friends of Mayor Dyas and/or City Council who stand to personally benefit from stopping the project by, among other things, preserving views from their condominium buildings, maintaining their property values, and profiting from their own opportunity to redevelop the property and the theatre property.”

The theatre property refers to a portion of the land at 350 Doyle Ave. designated for a new Kelowna Community Theatre. Bellamy lives in the Madison highrise within view of the site.

“Advancing the city’s business interests as owner of the property and landlord under the lease, including but not limited to, suppressing the value of the property so that the city could ultimately reacquire it at a lower price; and/or Mayor Dyas’ and members of City Council’s personal dislike of the project and/or the developer,” were also cited as reasons for improper action by the city.

The lawsuit seeks costs for things like breach of contract, breach of the duty of good faith and special damages.

Dyas told iNFOnews.ca he had yet to read the lawsuit and would not have time to review it right away.

"Because this is a legal issue, and I have not seen what has been filed, I cannot comment at this time," he said.

Later in the day, the City of Kelowna issued a statement regarding the lawsuit.

"The City is confident that the legal proceedings will demonstrate that Mayor and Council followed due process and acted in the best interest of the city," the statement read.

"As these matters are before the courts, we will not be commenting further on the specifics of the case. We trust that the court will examine the facts and the law and reach a fair and reasonable conclusion."

The defendants have 21 days to respond.

None of the allegations have been proven in court.

— This story was updated at 3:10 p.m. Friday, Feb. 2, 2024, to include a statement from the City of Kelowna.

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