Kelowna Mountain suing Regional District — again

KELOWNA – The ongoing battle between the Regional District of Central Okanagan and a controversial developer has resumed with another lawsuit.

The district is being sued again by Kelowna Mountain.

Kelowna Mountain says it spent more than $50 million to purchase the lands and to develop them for agriculture and agri-tourism uses.

It claims the actions of the regional district resulted in the money being wasted.

Developer Mark Consiglio has long maintained the RDCO purposely blocked his efforts to develop the property.

“The result of the Regional District’s actions was to effectively put the plaintiffs out of business,” states the Notice of Civil Claim. “In its zeal to prevent all development on Kelowna Mountain, the defendant exercised its powers with malice and intent to injure the plaintiffs.’

The regional district rejects the claims detailed in the lawsuit.

It adds this is the third attempt by Kelowna Mountain to sue the regional district and the previous attempts failed.

It says it’s unfortunate regional district taxpayers will be paying for another lawsuit involving Kelowna Mountain.

“I can say that the Regional District will actively defend itself against these unproven and false accusations that are without merit,” says Regional District chair Gail Given.  “I can also confirm the Regional District has yet to receive any application from the developer for consideration by the Regional District.”

Last week, Global Okanagan was first to report Kelowna Mountain is being sued for several million dollars by various lenders who claim mortgage payments are in default.