Photo: Gallagher’s Canyon Golf Club / Facebook
The property of Gallagher’s Canyon Golf and Country Club is suing the city of Kelowna for a huge increase in water prices.
Kelowna City Council gave final approval in May to a change in the bylaws, which means that golf courses in the southeastern part of Kelowna can no longer buy non-drinking water at an agricultural price.
According to a lawsuit filed this week in the British Columbia Supreme Court, the GolfBC ownership group said the change would increase their water costs fivefold from $ 15,300 in 2021 to $ 74,800 in 2024.
Until June 2018, the southeastern Irrigation Region of Kelowna operated the system from which Gallagher Canyon draws water, charging a rate of $ 0.045 per cubic meter of water.
Since then, the city of Kelowna has absorbed the SEKID water system and rewritten its regulations in a way that distinguishes between consumers who have land that is irrigated for “qualified agricultural use” and those who do not.
The change affects only three courses in southeastern Kelowna, one of which is Gallagher’s, for which prices will gradually rise to $ 0.22 per cubic meter. GolfBC said it uses 340,000 cubic meters of non-drinking water a year to irrigate its 18- and 9-hole courses. Gallagher’s is also the only course of the three affected without farm status.
At the heart of GolfBC’s case are allegations that city officials provided the council with misinformation before the vote. The court petition says officials told the council that GolfBC’s water costs will increase by only 160% over the next two years, when in fact the costs will increase by 500%.
“The members of the council made comments to show that they understand that the amendment to the bylaw represents a reduction or a slight increase in the tariff for non-drinking water,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit also alleges that the city did not provide adequate notice to the course owner about the process.
“Due to the lack of notification, GolfBC and other affected users were deprived of a meaningful opportunity to provide informed, thoughtful and rational comments to the city,” the case continued.
The petition calls for the new water rules to be declared illegal for “breach of procedural justice” and a declaration that the bylaw is “unreasonable”.
The city of Kelowna has 21 days to respond to the petition in court. None of the allegations in the lawsuit have been substantiated.
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