Lee Road
neighbours ready to keep fighting Hedger transfer station
By GAIL
SJUBERG
and CAREY
RUDISILL
Neighbours
of Laurie Hedger's Lee Road property are upset the Capital Regional District (CRD)
issued a transfer station licence to the controversial site last month.
Hedger
recently emerged the victor after a multi-year, two-front battle with
neighbours and the Islands Trust.
Until
last year the Trust had refused to grant the "grandfather" zoning
that allowed waste transfer activities on the 8.2-acre property. Without Trust
zoning approval, the CRD would not issue a transfer station licence as required
under a CRD bylaw that came into effect in November of 2002.
An
Islands Trust court claim and Hedger's counter-claim was then only recently
resolved.
"It's
alarming the Trust has caved in," said neighbour Harry Warner last week.
"We
think the whole thing is illegal and there's collusion between the Trust and
CRD," he said.
"We're
trying to gather the money together to buy a decent lawyer. It's sad we have to
pay for the Islands Trust to enforce our bylaws."
Closest
neighbour Tom Pickett, who used to work for the Hedgers and bought his lot from
them, has been the most vocal opponent over the years.
"Hedger
is trying to say he has existing and non-conforming grandfather law. We're
saying he wasn't doing it then and shouldn't fit that niche.
Trust
lawyers determined that "public service uses" were allowed on any
property before the new land use Bylaw #355 came into effect on November 12,
1998, so any waste-handling operations existing before then would be allowed
now.
"When
Laurie Hedger started picking up garbage here in February 1992 it was stated
that he was parking his trucks here, and when I was working for him that was
the case. Now he says he's always had a waste transfer site. For years, he's
maintained that he wasn't transferring."
Neighbours
Steve Grayson and Delaine Faulkner, who raise sheep, organic produce and
walnuts on their farm in the area, are also opposed to the Hedger operation.
"We don't
want a garbage operation in an area of organic farms, vineyards and rural
homes. Hedger's operation is adjacent to Mount Maxwell Park and uphill from the
Burgoyne Bay parklands. It makes no sense to put a garbage transfer station
here," said Grayson.
"We just
want the law enforced and the neighbourhood preserved."
Ray Hatch
moved to Salt Spring a year ago and is building a home with his wife on Lee's
Hill.
"I don't
feel it makes a lot of sense to have two transfer stations in close proximity
to each other," he said. "It seems silly. Why not promote the one we have as
opposed to setting up another one?"
Hatch is
also worried about potential environmental impacts of a transfer station.
"My major
concern is groundwater. I live at the bottom of the hill, therefore anything
that happens at the top, be it inorganic faming or a waste transfer facility --
if anyone puts anything into the soils, I'll end up with it."
Bill
Harkley is an owner of nearby Salt Spring Vineyards. He said that when his
family bought their property at 151 Lee Road in 1997 they were prepared to live
with both the parking of the garbage truck and Hedger's existing gravel removal
operation, but that a Class 1 waste transfer station is another matter.
Salt
Spring's regional director Gary Holman views the issue as resolved.
"The CRD
wanted to issue a licence a while ago and the Trust said no because he applied
for a Class 1 -- so there was this very odd situation of being in regulatory
limbo, so hopefully now we can move on."
A Class 1
licence allows the public to access the site, while a Class 2 variety does not.
According
to John Craveiro, assistance manager of the CRD's solid waste division, the licence
is conditional on Hedger submitting noise, leachate and odour management plans
by the end of March.
But from
the neighbours' perspective, the matter is not resolved, with noise, land use
and environmental concerns still at issue, along with questions about bylaw
enforcement.
"Neither
the Trust nor the CRD has enforced their bylaws in the past, they are not
enforcing them now and we residents have no reason to believe they will enforce
them in the future," said Pickett.
Hedger
provided his much-contrasting point of view to the Driftwood but instead of
seeing it in print, decided to consider responding to this story, if he
considers it necessary. While the Islands Trust commenced legal action in YEAR
to stop use of the Lee Road property for waste-related activities, Hedger made
a counter-claim against the Trust which included "abuse of public
process."
His
drop-off service next to the Ganges Village Market complex is not included in
current development permit plans for the property owned by Allen Cunningham.