Those who purchased houses from BC Hydro on the Tsawwassen right-of-way over a decade ago may not have realized just how much power lines had been a contentious part of Delta's history.
The B.C. Transmission Corporation’s (BCTC) contentious plan to upgrade existing power lines through the right-of-way a few years earlier caused much anger and turmoil, with many of the Tsawwassen homeowners under the power lines eventually taking advantage of a purchase offer by BC Hydro and moving away.
BCTC made sure to point out during the high voltage power line controversy that the corridor through Tsawwassen has been used continuously for over 50 years, long before homes were built alongside it.
Back when new power lines for Delta was first announced decades prior, not too many were pleased about the new right-of-way, including local farmers who wanted it rerouted elsewhere.
In the summer of 1955, a group of farmers petitioned Delta council asking for a re-routing of the planned corridor. They were upset when they found out about the B.C. Electric (BCE) plan to supply power to Vancouver Island, as it would cross land owned by them, and that BCE had taken an easement.
The petition stated the power lines through their fields would “prove a serious handicap” to farming activities and eventually open the door to subdivisions. At the time, the area had been occupied mostly by farms and housing would not be built close to the right-of-way until later years.
As reported by the Optimist in summer of '55, a heated council meeting took place where councillor Hugh Reynolds remarked he “didn't like the idea of B.C. Electric riding roughshot over the municipality.”
Saying the question would come up at the next meeting of provincial municipalities, Reeve John Kirkland said “it wasn't a case of telling BCE they couldn't do something but rather suggesting an alternate route.”
Kirkland offered the farmers help from municipal engineer William Erwood to map out a route which would be more beneficial.
Not everyone on council supported moving the corridor, however, as Coun. William Savage said it was a private matter and not a problem belonging to the Corporation of Delta.
“We can hardly be put in a position of asking that the route be changed from acreage owned by the petitioners and moved to acreage owned by someone else where the same problem would again be posed.” he said. “The power line is going through and it's got to go through somewhere.”
Coun. Albert Huff suggested a route following the shoreline of the Fraser. Kirkland followed up that suggestion by instructing municipal clerk A.N. Remphrey to write to BCE of the controversy, asking about the possibility of having a cable underground instead of “unsightly power poles across the Delta.”
Residents in parts of Delta continued to petition the project but it went ahead and was fully operational by 1959. Coun. Chris Winskill, who chaired the public utilities committee, remarked BCE was “ruthless in its methods.”
Over the years BC Hydro's other transmission corridors would be a thorny subject in Delta. In 1973, for example, the Greater Vancouver Regional District board heard from Delta farmers and property owners angered Hydro was “plastering” 25 to 30 per cent of farmland with power line easements “like a spider's web.”
Also, that year, Delta council complained to Hydro about a planned transmission line from the Arnott substation to the Kidd substation in Richmond, demanding it go underground. Hydro at the time said the power lines would be on “graceful steel columns.”
In 1974, Hydro announced plans to build a substation on property near the Tsawwassen Golf Course on 52nd Avenue, prompting Mayor Tom Goode to lodge a protest against the overhead power lines, asking they be placed underground. That request was shot quickly down by Hydro, citing the cost.
Fast forward a few decades and protests were again raised after Tsawwassen residents learned about BCTC's plan to replace existing lines in the 50-year-old corridor with higher voltage infrastructure.
That time around, it wasn't the unsightliness of the overhead lines, but rather concerns about electromagnetic fields' potential impact on health which was the major issue.
Several options were debated including rerouting the corridor down Deltaport Way, which was rejected by BCTC, and having the higher voltage lines go down Highway 17, an idea opposed by the Tsawwassen First Nation.
One of the other options talked about was to underground the lines in Tsawwassen streets, but the municipality wasn't keen on that suggestion. Residents who lived on the right-of-way later pitched undergrounding the lines through a method known as horizontal directional drilling, but Hydro rejected it, citing costs.
The Crown corporation would go on to complete the overhead power line upgrade along the corridor in 2008.
The government the following year offered a voluntary buy-out program and more than 100 homeowners along the corridor accepted. When the homes hit the market for resale. B.C. Hydro said rights-of-way “can contribute to communities through the development of greenways, recreational corridors and agricultural uses.”
The homes were all sold within a few months.
