The city is standing its ground on its use of the alternative approval process to authorize borrowing a combined $275 million for two projects, including an arena multiplex and the long-sought performing arts centre.

In October, Kathrine Wunderlich filed a petition with the B.C. Supreme Court to quash a pair of bylaws enacted by council that would allow the city to borrow the money. Among her claims are that the city did not provide proper notice under the law, published misleading information and did not properly calculate the number of electors in the city, thereby increasing the number of required submissions to halt the process.

To get the projects off the ground, the city opted to use the alternative approval process (AAP) to seek permission from electors to borrow the funds, rather than hold a referendum. The number of those in opposition to either project was not enough to stop the projects, however, with 4,025 against the arena complex and 5,802 against the arts centre, each falling short of the 8,713 required submissions to keep council from borrowing the funds.

In early November, the city asked its Build Kamloops working groups to pause their work because of the suit.

On Nov. 12, the city filed its response with the court, refuting Wunderlich’s claims and asserting it followed the rules in its use of the AAP and related procedures.

One of the suit’s claims is that the city did not follow the law in providing notice to residents. Under the Community Charter, the city is required to publish notices in weekly newspapers or enact a bylaw providing alternative means for publishing notice.

Up until the closure of Kamloops This Week, the city published its notices in that newspaper. Just weeks after its closure in October 2023, on recommendation from city staff, council approved a motion to authorize staff to post public notices on the city’s website, as well as continue its other posting methods.

The suit claims the city did not enact a bylaw for alternative notice as required, and that even if it had, it would have failed to comply with regulations that require notices to “adhere to the principles of reliability, suitability and accessibility,” pointing to Kamloops’ population of seniors, who might have difficulty using a computer or finding information online.

In its response to that claim, the city cited council’s October 2023 resolution and pointed to a number of ways it provided notice, including posting on its public notice board at City Hall, on its website, and by email to those subscribed to the city’s list of statutory notice subscribers. The city also said it published information about the AAP on its social media accounts, including paid Facebook and Instagram advertisements and in its summer newsletter.

On the claim that the city “inflated” the number of electors in Kamloops, the city said its figures were based on the best available information, including city records, the 2021 census and information from BC Stats, concluding there were 87,131 eligible electors. That meant the counter-petitions would require 8,713 submissions to succeed.

The city didn’t address claims that it published misleading material or censored opposition to the projects or the use of the AAP, saying those claims are “not supported by evidence, lack particulars, omit mention of relevant facts and otherwise have no or insufficient foundation in fact or law.”

The city also took issue with the suit’s nine affidavits, calling portions of them to be struck as evidence for a variety of reasons, including that parts of Wunderlich’s affidavit are “scandalous, frivolous or vexatious.”

The city says Wunderlich’s affidavit contains defamatory comments about donors to the performing arts centre, comments “wishing injury/death to a local reporter,” a caricature of the city’s logo, and an insulting caricature of city council members. Portions of other affidavits were called to be struck for missing information.

The Chronicle has not reviewed the affidavits, and the petition will be heard in court on Jan. 13, 2025.