Friday, December 18, 2009

Unpaid bills send Sedric's website offline

Jeremy Deutsch - Kamloops This Week Published: December 18, 2009 4:00 PM

A giant water park and resort planned for Kamloops is now looking more like a mirage. After months of speculation that Sedric's Adventure Resort and Theme Park was in trouble, the company that hosted and built the development's website — sedrics.com — has pulled the plug. Ralph Ragan of Ragan Creative told KTW his company hasn't been paid by the developer for its work, so it took down the website on Monday (Dec. 14). "No one wants to take any responsibility for any of the debt surrounding this whole undertaking," he said. In April, a group led by developer Thomas Aubrey announced plans to build a $250-million Western-style theme park, sprawling across 45 acres on the south side of Highway 5 — across from Sun Rivers — that, when complete, would offer a water park with a hotel, arena, commercial space and conference centre.

But cracks in the development started to appear after the original construction start date was pushed back a year and the group went searching for — and was later denied — federal funding. Ragan set up the website when the project was first announced in April, and was promised by Aubrey he would be paid within 30 days, but that never happened. He wouldn't say how much the developer owed his company. Ragan said he got involved in the project because he "100 per cent" believed in the idea and concept. "Unfortunately, we have discovered there is someone who doesn't always do what he says he's going to do," he said. "It's bad news for Kamloops that these types of things happen." Ragan said he still hopes the water park will eventually be built, suggesting it would be good for the city and the tourism industry. Calls to Aubrey were not returned to KTW.

No comments: