Massive housing development near Kelowna landfill too cost risky say city planners

A Kelowna developer says it will be the city’s loss if it can’t build a huge housing development in the Glenmore Valley neighbourhood.

But city staff disagree and are recommending council not consider an application to amend land use designations in the Official Community Plan.

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Troika Management Corp. wants to build about 1,000 housing units on 219 acres of land known as Diamond Mountain immediately south of the Glenmore Landfill.

City planners say there’s too many possible negative consequences for the city of having the development so close to the dump which has an operations expectancy of 75 years.

“It has been concluded by accredited technical experts and staff that residential development as proposed will be negatively impacted by visual, odour, noise and dust nuisances created by landfill and composting operations. This is likely to result in complaints to Council and the Ministry of Environment adding pressure to either spend significant tax dollars on modifications, relocate or close City facilities,” states a staff report council will consider at its Monday night meeting.

Troika says it want to develop “the greenest subdivision in Kelowna” for families “of all shapes, stages and scales of income.”

“If the Area Structure Plan isn’t approved, the property is already zoned for Agricultural 1 (A1) so we would proceed with developing seventeen 10-acre lots that only the wealthy could afford, and the public parks, lookouts and trails would be lost,” says company CEO Renee Wasylyk in a news release.

Troika appears to have the support of the University of BC. Its Kelowna campus is just east of the landfill.

“We believe affordable, mixed housing development in proximity to the campus is in the interest of the community,” says UBCO Principal Deborah Buszard in the release.

City staff say the direct cost to Kelowna taxpayers could range from $28 to $52 million to mitigate nuisance impacts from composting operations and much more if the landfill is closed sooner than planned.

“The risks to residential quality of life and City operations are too great to allow the proposal to proceed as-is,” says the report to council.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "The risks to residential quality of life and City operations are too great to allow the proposal to proceed as-is," says the report to council.