City of Powell River council has passed the third reading of a zoning bylaw amendment for the former Max Cameron Secondary School property, with one councillor voting in opposition.
Councillor Russell Brewer asked a number of questions about the impact the Squatter’s Creek landfill had on the proposed subdivision of the property, which is owned by School District 47, before he cast his no vote. Councillor Jim Palm declared a conflict of interest in the matter because he is employed by the school district, so he did not discuss or vote on the motion.
The city is acquiring a lot for park purposes as part of the subdivision proposal. The parcel is larger than what is required by law for park dedication and is part of the area affected by the former Squatter’s Creek landfill.
Brewer wanted to know if the city is liable for the former landfill site once the transfer is completed. “I think we have an obligation for landfill remediation at some point, but I want to be clear whether we have liability now as the city,” he said.
Carlos Felip, director of planning services, said the city is liable. He also said the most significant area that was identified as landfill is the park parcel. He added that each one of the parcels being created by the subdivision will require a certificate of compliance before they are developed. “Everybody is basing their knowledge on what the Levelton report, which the school board [commissioned], says and that report says the garbage is concentrated here,” Felip said. “It means the ministry of environment is relying on those engineers because they are the professionals, but they are saying before you develop each one of the other parcels, we still need a specific analysis of each one of those areas.”
Brewer pointed out that at the public hearing, an individual requested that an environmental assessment be conducted on the whole site. He also pointed out that there had been work done about the landfill site 10 to 15 years ago which addressed concerns about methane as well as possible leaching into the lower reaches of Squatter’s Creek. “I just don’t know if those follow-up monitoring studies were done or if there’s more work needed or if we know,” he said.
Brewer was referring to a report done by Pottinger Gaherty in 2001 that outlined a landfill gas action plan for Squatter’s Creek. It called for monitors to be installed in 17 locations as part of a plan to mitigate methane hazards in high-risk areas.
While Mac Fraser, chief administrative officer, didn’t answer the question, he did explain the rezoning is a prerequisite for the planned subdivision. “[It] in no way diminishes our responsibility,” he said. “It actually represents us taking responsibility, control and ownership of the land.”
Powell River Regional District’s draft solid waste management plan, which is awaiting ministerial approval, identifies there is a need for remediation and a plan to do that remediation first and foremost for three sites, including Squatter’s Creek.
“Regardless of whether we were to own the land or not, we have taken on responsibility and acknowledged that we were the source of the landfill,” Fraser said.
The rezoning map shows a line that is identified as “Landfill limit from May 20, 2011 Levelton report.” However, the Pottinger Gaherty report shows the landfill extending south from that line over to the playing fields located on the other side of Joyce Avenue.
Fraser said the line that shows the limit of the landfill is “only one edge of a larger area. It’s just what’s relevant to the decision that is in front of council. It’s not saying that the landfill stops there. It’s just one edge in a long, circuitous route along Squatter’s Creek.”
