City of Powell River officials will not be taking any action on a section of legislation that gives the owners of the paper mill an exemption from all local bylaws and regulations.
Councillors discussed Section 21, a part of the District of Powell River Incorporation Act, at the September 6 committee-of-the-whole meeting.
Section 21 gives the owners of the paper mill a statutory exemption from all regulatory bylaws that restrict pulp, paper or other mill-related operations within the millsite.
It reads as follows: “No bylaw or other law or regulation of the council shall operate to restrict the construction, maintenance and operation on the millsite area as defined in the Fourth Schedule of pulp, paper or other mills utilizing forest products or any other industrial works, whether similar to the foregoing or not, or to limit or otherwise control below what is economically feasible, having regard to the best current engineering knowledge and practice in Canada for mills and any such mills and works on the millsite area of odour, fumes, gas, vapour, smoke, dust, cinders, vibration, electricity, noise or explosion.”
In 2007, council passed a motion to ask the province for a statutory amendment to the incorporation act to exclude mill property that was purchased by PRSC Limited Partnership from Section 21.
Marie Claxton, city clerk, reported at the committee meeting that staff could not find a record of what happened to that request. “There may have been some verbal discussion between the province and planning staff of that day, but I couldn’t find a record,” she said. She suggested if councillors wanted to pursue the issue, they could direct staff to prepare a report.
Carlos Felip, manager of development services, explained that the current interpretation of Section 21 from city lawyers is that it only applies to those lands owned by Catalyst Paper Corporation and used for mill purposes. “As soon as the property is no longer used for mill purposes or it no longer belongs to the mill, Section 21 in reality doesn’t have any effect,” he said. “To eliminate Section 21 would have the value of allowing the city to now regulate the mill. That would be the only difference. And I don’t think we want to get into that, right?”
Councillor Russell Brewer asked why the city wouldn’t want to have a mechanism to regulate activity on the millsite. “If it’s the only situation in BC where we’ve got something like this and it’s kind of a moot point either way, why wouldn’t we just get the comfort level of not having it?” he asked.
Councillor Maggie Hathaway said Section 21 was redundant and no longer made any sense. “There is the fear that they could come in and put some sort of operation in there that the city was clearly opposed to and we’d be powerless to do anything,” she said.
Councillor Debbie Dee pointed out the issue arose most recently in relation to a proposal by Wheelabrator Technologies Inc. to construct a waste-to-energy facility on the millsite. But she said barging in garbage and incinerating it would not be considered regular mill business. She added there are ramifications to removing Section 21 and she would like more information on what they would be and “whether or not Catalyst or whoever owns that property down there has the right to do anything like that under Section 21. As I understand it, they don’t.”
However, other opinions suggest Section 21 would have applied because Wheelabrator would be producing steam that the mill would then use in its papermaking process. When asked if the city had received any legal advice about Section 21 and the Wheelabrator proposal, councillors said no.
Councillor Chris McNaughton noted there hadn’t been any issues with the mill and why would the city want to change Section 21. “The province has a responsibility when it comes to environmental issues and other things that are related to mill,” he said. “I think we have enough to do right now.”
Brewer made a motion to direct staff to pursue removing Section 21 from the incorporation act and Hathaway seconded it.
When the vote was taken, only Brewer and Hathaway voted in favour of it, so the motion was defeated.
Mayor Dave Formosa was absent.
