Good news, but the fight is not yet over. See the development lawyer’s response below this article. The next big court report is due at the end of the month, when the same judge will decide whether or not to extend the development’s bankruptcy protection.
Shuswap lease plan rejected, says lawyer
January 10, 2012
By Cam Fortems
Kamloops Daily News
A proposal by Kamloops developer Mike Rink to market leased lots and storage sheds for 165 RVs on Shuswap Lake is contrary to zoning, according to a lawyer who listened to a B.C. Supreme Court decision Tuesday.
David McMillan, who represents suppliers and trades at West Beach, said the ruling appears to scuttle the proposal to offer 199-year leases, along with associated storage sheds for each site. “If it means what I think it means, it means the storage shed plan goes down.”
According to the West Beach website, about 20 units were pre-sold. McMillan listened Tuesday to an oral ruling by B.C. Supreme Court justice Jon Sigurdson. A written decision is expected by later this week. The ruling comes as part of the drawn-out and complex Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) for the New Future Group of companies.
Rink could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
A court-ordered monitor deemed the proposed West Beach project as one of only two, along with an undeveloped parcel in Nelson, in a position to make money to pay creditors. Together, the seven New Future projects that were originally granted protection had debts well in excess of $100 million.
A court-appointed appraiser estimated last year that West Beach is worth $38 million, based on selling the RV lots for an average $140,000. A key legal part of the project was storage sheds associated with the RV pads, allowing sites to be registered at the Land Title Office.
But McMillan said Sigurdson ruled storage sheds don’t conform with the original campground zoning at the former Cottonwoods Campground. The provincial Land Title Office also refused to certify a test lease submitted to the office. “The Columbia-Shuswap Regional District will be relieved,” McMillan predicted. “Its position is vindicated.”
CSRD raised its concerns about the RV and storage shed plan with the court-ordered monitor last year. New Future Group’s lawyers asked the B.C. Supreme Court for a declaration that the plan was valid in law. It argued the project fit within a pre-existing, non-conforming use at the historical Cottonwoods Campground.
The developer moved to the RV proposal after its plan for a larger condominium resort and marina at the premier beachfront property was defeated at public hearing in 2007. But McMillan said Sigurdson ruled the storage sheds are not consistent with uses at the former campground. Nor can they be considered an accessory.
“To me it’s a huge blow to the very concept of this development,” said McMillan, whose clients, like other creditors, were relying on it to turn a profit and pay back creditors. Sigurdson did allow, however, for use of park-model trailers that would be occupied seasonally. McMillan said the Supreme Court justice determined they are in keeping with traditional uses at the former campground.
New Recreations remains under CCAA protection until at least the end of January. It had been given a recent extension in order to reach a deal with creditors based on the RV development. An appeal of Sigurdson’s decision is possible.
Shuswap conservationist Jim Cooperman believes the decision marks the end of the project. “Of course, we’re elated by the news,” said Cooperman who heads a local environmental group and has fought development at West Beach.
If Rink’s companies are not granted continued protection, the property is likely to end up in the hands of Mission Creek Mortgage, the first creditor. Cooperman said he holds out hope the province can eventually buy the property and add it to the adjacent Roderick Haig-Brown Park. “It could easily be run as a campground.”
West Beach project still has options, developer’s lawyer insists
January 11, 2012
By Cam Fortems
Kamloops Daily News
A B.C. Supreme Court judgment that rules out storage sheds as the basis for a proposed 165-unit RV park on Shuswap Lake “is not the end of the development,” a lawyer said Wednesday. Andrew Prior, a lawyer representing developer Mike Rink’s New Future Group, said questions remain on B.C. Supreme Court justice Jon Sigurdson’s oral decision Tuesday. Written reasons will be released this week or early next week.
Lawyers will pore over those written reasons when they are released to get a better understanding of what can be developed on the parcel beside Roderick Haig-Brown park, he said. “Although we lost on the lease structures, in our view it’s not the end of the development,” Prior said. “We want to get a handle on what can go in there.”
The court decision is the latest in the saga of West Beach. Rink originally proposed a large condominium project for the former Cottonwoods Campground site at the North Shuswap. But that was turned down by the Columbia-Shuswap Regional District four years ago. The public hearing drew national attention because of the proposed resort’s location near Adams River and its famed salmon run.
Undaunted, Rink came back with a plan to develop an RV resort, based on offering 199-year leases, with an associated storage shed that could be registered at the provincial Land Title Office. While the proposal for storage sheds was rejected by both the courts and Land Title Office, Prior said Sigurdson also affirmed some rights to development.
Sigurdson ruled park-model trailers are permitted because they conform to historical and seasonal campground use at the Cottonwoods Campground site. “It’s important to know we can put 165 park-model trailers there, something the regional district was disputing,” Prior said.
Prior said Sigurdson also ruled that the seasonal period for their use is longer than the 182 days in a CSRD bylaw. In 2010, New Future Group entered protection of the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act when it could no longer pay bills on debts of more than $100 million on seven B.C. projects, including Mission Hill condominium complex in Kamloops.
That half-completed project off Summit Drive is now owned by a mortgage company after it foreclosed on the property. West Beach was identified early on by a court-appointed monitor as one of two projects — the other an undeveloped parcel in the Kootenays — with the best chance to pay back creditors.
The development remains under CCAA protection until at least the end of this month, when lawyers may ask for an extension in order to rethink the project and repay creditors.It has more than $20 million worth of mortgage debt and money owed to trades and suppliers.
Copyright 2012 Glacier Media Inc.