Anyone strolling through the north-eastern portion of the Squamish Estuary this week may have stumbled upon a clearing and disturbed area with machine tracks and broken branches that stands out next to the natural state of much of the area.
The clearing is on a portion of a 28-acre undeveloped site on Bailey Street that is for sale by BC Rail Properties (BCRP), a former department of BC Rail that is currently controlled by the provincial Ministry of Transportation. The ministry confirmed to The Chief on Jan. 29 that BC Rail Properties has a pending purchase sale agreement on the land.
BCR Properties has a mandate from the provincial government to sell the non-railway related real estate owned by BCR Properties and the British Columbia Railway Company.
The ministry said there was no requirement for a public process over the sale of the land.
“The land is sold via the open market through an open and transparent bidding process, similar to any other parcel of land, and posted on the BCR website,” read the statement.
According to the District of Squamish, BCRP gave permission for geotechnical work to be undertaken on the company’s property by a potential developer of the land.
Garbage is seen in recent online photos of the property, though it is unclear if the garbage was the result of the recent work.
The property operated as a landfill between 1956 and 1980.
District of Squamish approvals were not required for the geotechnical work, and there has been no land development application submitted to the District to date, according to staff.
The District did acknowledge the site was left more disturbed than it should have been.
The District contacted BCRP about cleaning up the mess on the grounds of public safety as, though it is private property, residents often cross the property, staff said.
“In light of the condition that the site has been left in, the District contacted BCRP [Jan. 7] to inform them of the mess, and ask that immediate attention be devoted to cleaning it up. We understand that this will be remedied in short order,” read an email from District staff.
The District does not have official authority to get the land owner to clean up the area, but reached out believing the landowner would want to if alerted to the problem, staff said.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure said in an emailed statement to The Chief late last week that “any material left by geotechnical crews will be properly cleaned up and removed.”
Asked what the potential developer would need to do to mitigative the risk to the estuary due to the toxins from the former landfill, the spokesperson noted that the former landfill was only two to three acres in size, relative to the 28-acre parcel.
"Any future development would need to comply with all municipal and provincial zoning, building and environmental requirements," read the statement.
In terms of possible future development on the land, the current zoning of the lands is mostly resource with a small portion zoned industrial.
The property is within in the Estuary Management Plan but not part of the Provincial Wildlife Management Area.
Currently, most of the property is designated in the Official Community Plan as greenway corridor and recreation, but there is a small part nearest Bailey Street that is designated “downtown” in the OCP.
Previously, Mayor Patricia Heintzman told The Chief that because the land is located adjacent to the estuary it would be subject to a rigorous public process, environmental impact analysis and public engagement if zoning were required.
