Construction on a 100-bed seniors home is underway in Sun Rivers. Residents there are trying to reduce the height of the building to minimize its impact (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Chad Klassen

SUN RIVERS

Sun Rivers residents threaten legal action over seniors home in community

Sep 23, 2022 | 3:46 PM

KAMLOOPS — John Emerson worries about his Sun Rivers property overlooking the 17th hole at the Bighorn Golf and Country Club, an area being turned into a seniors’ home.

“Property values will be diminished by around $100,000 per home,” noted Emerson, saying there are 20 to 30 houses that will be impacted.

The planned 100-bed facility is under construction and already causing a nuisance to residents there. However, it’s the long-term effects they’re most concerned about.

“We’re going to have ambulances coming and going. It’s just going to have a real negative impact,” he said. “Not only on the current residents, but also when potential residents, potential investors don’t have any certainty with what they’re buying into, then that affects whether or not they’re going to invest in this community.”

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The group has obtained a lawyer and asked Tk’emlups te Secwepemc, the Sun Rivers Development Corporation, and AgeCare, the company building the facility, to stop construction and discuss possible solutions, including resigning the plans to lessen the impact of the building.

“Whether that’s a two-storey building, three-storey building, or a hybrid of some sort. That’s really what we’re after at this point,” said Sun Rivers resident Malcolm Ashford.

It’s currently a four-storey facility with underground parking. The concern is around taking away city views and the overall relaxing atmosphere the community brings.

Rendering of what the senior home will look like upon completion (Image Credit: AgeCare)

Ashford says as part of potential legal action, it’s going after the band and Sun Rivers over an apparent diversion from the original Sun Rivers’ Master Plan, which designated the area for adult-oriented community, not a seniors’ facility, residents argue.

“What they’re doing is they’re a commercial, for-profit institution here that is in contravention to the lease,” noted Ashford.

Tk’emlups te Secwepemc chief and council say they’re aware of the concerns but not speaking publicly. The Sun Rivers Development Corporation was not available for comment, but has argued the height of the care facility is similar to other buildings in the community.

“That area, for instance, if we had done a townhouse project there, it could’ve been a three-storey, similar to Rivergate at the main entrance, then it would’ve had three stories, plus a sloped roof, so pretty much the equivalent of four-stories — same height as what’s being proposed,” noted Rick Siemens from the Sun Rivers Development Corporation in an interview with CFJC Today in March.

It’s not known whether either the band or the corporation are willing to come to the table to talk. Emerson, who’s a class-action lawyer in the U.S., says Sun Rivers residents are in a favourable spot to pursue legal action.

“Based on their failures to comply with the master plan and the way in which they represented this development, I think we’ve got a strong case for misrepresentation,” he said. “In my view, as a class-action lawyer, I think they have their tails hanging out on this.”

A class-action suit could take a couple years, but the group in the meantime wants to sit down with both sides and come to an agreement on a smaller care home.

Otherwise, Emerson says the developers could be facing a multi-million-dollar lawsuit.