Plans for "the greenest subdivision in Kelowna" will no longer come to fruition.
"My gut is, it's dead in the water," said Troika's CEO Renee Wasylyk, after watching council vote against the company's plans for the area called Diamond Mountain, south of the Glenmore Landfill.
The housing development had sounded like a slam dunk for Kelowna's self-declared pro-housing council, with upwards of 800 housing units, homes ranging from affordable to higher end, and a commercial component to boot, that were all included in the design.
The sticking point was location, with some areas less than a kilometre away from the landfill, which staff and council both felt was just too close to guarantee mitigation on smell, noise, and dust.
Mayor Colin Basran says that with technological advances, a future version of the landfill could allow for that kind of development.
"In the future, do I hope that we deal with waste differently? Absolutely I do," he said.
"Would I hope that this could come back at a later date, when we're able to deal with waste in a different way? In partnership with, perhaps, UBCO on something that can be a leader in North America or the world, in terms of dealing with waste, and perhaps tying in energy and sustainability? Absolutely. But we're not there yet."
Meanwhile, Wasylyk says she doesn't have that time on her side, and will be starting construction this summer on 17 luxury 10-acre lots.
"We have to move forward, and we have to move forward with what we're dealing with today. And it's way too risky to not know what's going to happen," she said.
"I can go to bed at night and sleep really well, knowing I did absolutely everything I possibly could to really provide a sustainable solution for Kelowna. And the fact of the matter is, I can put millionaires there knowing it's not on my head. It now rests on council's head".
Council's vote against the project passed by a 5-2 margin.
Brad Sieben and Tracy Gray voted against killing it, while Gail Given and Charlie Hodge were absent.
Sieben says the plan approved last year to dump more garbage into the landfill didn't include enough info on nearby properties, when council was asked to consider it.
"From my perspective, we weren't provided additional context. And I think what we're learning today is that this has poential ramifications that go beyond Diamond Mountain," he said.
"How it affects UBCO in particular, as a key economic driver. In essence,do we need to limit development there as well? I'd actually prefer to defer this."
Wasylyk says despite having the info to back up her disputes with city staff, it didn't seem like council wanted to explore it.
"It was a very biased process, and that I would say, is probably part of what I'm most disappointed about - is that there was not a lot of interest in listening," she said.
"I would say that Councillor Sieben and Councillor Gray obviously were most inquisitive, but really, there was a very biased procedure that took place in there."
Councillor Luke Stack spoke about a letter council got from UBC, which expressed potential concern over the landfill having an overarching effect on area properties and was written in favour of the project.
He says he had a different interpretation.
"I see this as the first concerned letter, of the thousands that we're going to get in the future. People that have interests nearby, and they want their interests protected. And I think it's up to our council to protect them," he said.
"I think this is a situation where we have to do everything within our power to ensure we do not generate future complaints, and that we do protect the area to the best of our ability."
Wasylyk says he missed the point.
"I've read that letter, because it was sent to me as well. And it was absolutely concluding at the very end, full support of Diamond Mountain moving forward," she said.
"In fact, UBCO's representatives walked out of there and said 'well, they clearly misunderstood our letter. That was misappropriated.'"
She says Troika will now move on to Plan B, which will be a luxury community made up of 17 ten-acre lots.
That won't need any further council approval to move forward, and will start construction in the coming months.