Author: Kirsten Mason

This article appeared in the Kamloops Daily News on October 22, 2011 and was written by Cam Fortems.

Developer Mike Rink has failed to meet a payment deadline on the half-completed Mission Hill project in Kamloops and continues to face a court challenge in the Shuswap.

That Shuswap project, the controversial West Beach Village, is the only one of Rink’s imperiled real estate holdings that promised to pay back financial institutions and trades people owed millions of dollars.

The latest information on Rink’s progress is in a report filed as part of the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA).

Begun in 2010 when he could no longer make payments on seven real estate developments in the Interior and Squamish, the bankruptcy protection process is nearing an end but it remains unclear whether the Kamloops developer can successfully complete key projects — Mission Hill in Kamloops and West Beach Village in the Shuswap.

Mission Hill is now outside the CCAA process after a deal was brokered among creditors to continue construction and offer promissory notes to trades people based on success of the project.

But a key deadline was missed at the end of September, when Rink was supposed to come up with $4 million from selling outside family property and pay that sum to first creditor Harbour Canadian Capital Corp.

The monitor’s report presented to the B.C. Supreme Court said Rink has not met that deadline. Mission Hill was also supposed to be marketed and offered for sale once again.

Now that the deadline has lapsed, Harbour is free to trigger a foreclosure and take over the project.

However, Rink filed an affidavit in court, stating Mission Hill has been proceeding and “crews are working daily to finish exterior and interior of the building to position Phase 1 for occupancy at the end of November.”

He did not return phone calls Friday.

It also states a marketing proposal will be presented to Harbour for approval.

The only projected moneymaker from Rink’s $100 million worth of projects on the books two years ago is at West Beach. But Columbia-Shuswap Regional District has taken a hard line against the proposal, saying it doesn’t meet zoning.

An earlier condominium development proposal in the same location was turned down in a public hearing process that received national attention due to its proximity to Adams River and its sockeye run. Undaunted, Rink moved ahead with a 165-unit RV park he said fits with existing zoning for the campground.

The project also calls for several motels to be developed at the site.

The two sides are headed for court unless they can come to an agreement.

A proposal was submitted Wednesday to the CSRD board, which met in camera to consider a compromise.

Director Denis Delisle acknowledged the matter was discussed but the meeting was held in camera. It remains in the hands of lawyers on both sides.

The CCAA process has been stretched out several times, with the latest deadline Nov. 30. If Rink and the CSRD cannot come to an agreement on acceptable uses for the proposed RV park, the B.C. Supreme Court will decide on the legality.

If it rules in the regional district’s favour, the court monitor concluded that ‘the project will not be viable.”

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