Kelowna councillor admits mistakes as city faces lawsuit for underground parking fiasco

A year ago residents of a subsidized apartment building in downtown Kelowna were evacuated due to underground parkade construction and now a city councillor has admitted the city has made mistakes. During a discussion about downtown parking at a council meeting today, April 14, councillor Gord Lovegrove said the city now knows how it ought to plan underground parking. “We already have underground and we've learned, we've made mistakes. So we know how not to do it. Let's apply those lessons. That's classic good design as you learn from your mistakes and do it better the next time. We've learned how not to do it and how to do it properly,” he said at the meeting. The UBC Okanagan is building a campus downtown and the original plan for the highrise included a four-storey underground parking garage. During construction significant structural damage was found in the neighbouring apartment building Hadgraft Wilson Place which is operated by Pathways Abilities Society. It is a subsidized building geared towards people with fixed incomes and disabilities. The structural damage forced 84 residents to evacuate their homes in April last year. Construction of the UBCO tower resumed with a shallower underground parking garage, but the residents have not been allowed to move back into their homes so they have launched lawsuits against the university and the city. READ MORE: Long legal battle ahead for Kelowna residents displaced by UBCO downtown highrise https://infotel.ca/inhome/long-legal-battle-ahead-for-kelowna-residents-displaced-by-ubco-downtown-highrise/it107365 When asked which project he was referring to when he said the city made mistakes, Lovegrove said he wouldn't specify. “I am speaking for myself only, not on behalf of council... suffice to say we continue to learn how to do underground parking properly. Regardless of location, I would expect we could require one level to be built (underground),” Lovegrove said in an email to iNFOnews.ca. Kelowna has a high water table which can make the soil unstable and can lead to settling problems when going deep for underground parking. Councillor Luke Stack cited the UBCO tower project when explaining why he would be opposed to more parking underground. “I'd be opposed to a requirement to force developers to go underground because of our high water table. I think we're asking for trouble. We have a bit of an object lesson at the UBC tower,” Stack said.  Monique Saebels is a Hadgraft Wilson Place resident spokesperson and she said she found Lovegrove’s comments surprising. “I just think it's funny that one of the council members would even say that,” she said. “That's kind of openly admitting fault. And it's obvious what they've done and they don't want to make more mistakes.” Darren Kautz, a lawyer working on the lawsuit, said he couldn’t comment on its current status of the case but public comments about the city’s knowledge of the challenges and risks with building underground parking in Kelowna could strengthen the residents’ arguments. “It's something that I hope we're going to look into for sure now. If there is evidence out there that the city made mistakes and that has been publicly disclosed, our firms will have to look at that for sure,” Kautz said. “If there was advanced knowledge prior to issuing these permits, it would strengthen our claim.” READ MORE: UBCO’s engineering report on downtown building came with warnings https://infotel.ca/newsitem/ubcos-engineering-report-on-downtown-building-came-with-warnings/it105130 On March 28, UBC said in a media release it had created a task force with Pathways Abilities Society and the City of Kelowna to look into developing a “sustainable and long-term solution” for Hadgraft Wilson Place. “While the task force cannot offer specific details due to ongoing legal processes, they hope to share more comprehensive updates in the weeks to come,” the release said. Kelowna Mayor Tom Dyas said the task force is working to serve the community. “We understand the community’s concerns and recognize the hardships faced by those who were displaced and their families,” Dyas said in the same release. “We are committed to this joint process and are hopeful that the work underway will lead to outcomes that serve the interests of those impacted and the broader community.” To contact a reporter for this story, email Jesse Tomas mailto:jtomas@infonews.ca  or call 250-488-3065 or email the editor mailto:news@infonews.ca . You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom mailto:tips@infonews.ca  and be entered to win a monthly prize draw. Find our Journalism Ethics policy here. https://infotel.ca/newsitem/code-of-ethics/it106782 We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. 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