A B.C. Supreme Court trial over alleged ecological damage to Burns Bog has been put on hold as the parties try to resolve the lawsuit.
The case against Princess Farms, a joint suit by the City of Delta and Metro Vancouver, was scheduled to go to trial next week, almost seven years after the initial legal action was filed.
Municipal solicitor Greg Vanstone said the trial has been adjourned and the parties are engaged in discussions to try to resolve the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges damage occurred within the Burns Bog Ecological Conservancy Area as a result of soil deposit activities carried out on an adjacent 104th Street property in East Delta.
The lawsuit was originally filed in March 2013.
The claim alleges the activities occurred with the consent of the company and by or under the supervision of Matcom Landfill Management Inc. and/or Matcom Civil Constructors Inc. All three parties were originally named as defendants.
A previous report to Delta council notes environmental, geotechnical, survey and aerial mapping work by experts support the claim against the company.
“It is Delta’s position that some or all of the disruption and damage to the Burns Bog ecosystem is irreparable and we are seeking appropriate costs to remediate the bog to the extent possible and aggravated and punitive damages based on disgorgement of revenues obtained while carrying out the fill operation in contravention of their permits,” the report notes.
Now closed, the Princess Farms property comprises 16 hectares (39.5 acres) at the eastern edge of Burns Bog, which was purchased jointly by four levels of government in 2004.
The farm is within the Agricultural Land Reserve but hasn’t been used for agriculture for some time.
Several years ago, Delta council voted against an application by the owner to allow tens of thousands of additional cubic metres of fill to be deposited there, but the Agricultural Land Commission gave the green light anyway.
A few years earlier the commission had given the go-ahead for Princess Farms to deposit 300,000 cubic metres of soil fill.
The commission was told the goal was to eventually make the site suitable for blueberry farming, but no such activity has taken place there.
Delta had issued a soil deposit permit at the time as well, but under several conditions, including that the fill be deposited in a specified area, a condition Delta alleges was broken.
“Affected areas of Burns Bog include vegetation, trees, wildlife habitat and the peat bog itself, which suffered tearing, heaving and the vertical and lateral displacement of the peat bog near where fill was placed on native peat on the adjacent farm land,” according to Delta. “Run off from the fill may also affect the bog’s chemistry.”
In its lengthy statement of defence, Princess Farms says it did not participate, nor was it involved in, the fill operation beyond granting Matcom permission to deposit fill on the property pursuant to the terms of the agreements, and that it denies that it was jointly involved in the directing or managing of the operation as alleged by Delta.
The company also denies there was physical damage to the bog and that the plaintiffs have not incurred costs of remediation.
