District warns forestry firm over clearing land

In ongoing battle, Capital Region demands Western Forest Products seek permits for preparatory work on disputed development
JUSTINE HUNTER, Globe and Mail
VICTORIA — While lawyers prepare for a court battle over Western Forest Products’ attempts to sell off timberlands for real-estate development, company employees were still clearing land yesterday to stake out its proposed subdivision boundaries.
But even that work could soon be stalled. The local government has issued a warning letter as a prelude to seeking an injunction against the forest company’s preliminary work on its private lands.

The former timberlands on the west coast of Vancouver Island have been at the centre of controversy since the provincial government agreed to lift forestry restrictions from the properties last year.

The Capital Regional District, the regional authority for land-use issues in and around Victoria, sent Western Forest Products a written demand that the company obtain permits to do even preparatory work on the subdivisions.

“What may not be clear to them is, they cannot alter the land without permits,” Robert Lapham, general manager for the CRD’s planning department, said in an interview yesterday. “If they aren’t prepared to comply, we would have to seek an injunction.”

The CRD has made no secret of its opposition to the forest company’s real-estate plans – it has already tried to block the development by changing the zoning throughout the rural, waterfront strip of the island between Sooke and Jordan River. In April, it changed the zoning bylaws to allow properties to be subdivided into lots no smaller than 48 hectares.

That move elicited a weighty response from Western Forest Products, in the form of a 412-page petition in B.C. Supreme Court seeking to quash the zoning changes.

The company is set to appear in court on Sept. 15. Court documents filed by the company argue the CRD “exceeded its authority, exceeded its jurisdiction, committed an error of law or acted unreasonably” in its bid to slow development on the former timberlands.

The CRD argues that its official community plan for the region calls for limited growth in the area, and the lands were expected to remain “renewable resource working landscapes.”

That vision changed when Western Forest Products listed some of its waterfront properties with realtor Colliers International, hoping to relieve some of its debt pressures. The 2,550 hectares put on the block included valuable south-facing waterfront and were provisionally sold to a developer who wants to create a new town of 10,000 at Jordan River.

In order to develop the lands, the company needed the Ministry of Forests to remove restrictions from its private forestry lands, an agreement it won early last year.

Last week, B.C. Auditor-General John Doyle criticized the government’s handling of that decision, saying then-forests minister Rich Coleman failed to consider the public interest when he agreed to delete the lands from the Tree Farm Licence program.

The change was worth an estimated $150-million to the company, but the province sought no compensation.

Duncan Kerr, chief operating officer of Western Forest Products, said yesterday the company is carrying on its preparation of the subdivisions according to the old zoning bylaws that allow for smaller lots. It has until April, 2009, to obtain development approval from the provincial Transportation Ministry, a process that is still under way.

Mr. Kerr said the company is reviewing the latest demands from the CRD, but said he would have preferred to work with the local government without resorting to litigation.

“We think that’s far from optimal,” he said. “We’re very disappointed that we have been unable to engage with the CRD, local planners and local communities. Instead it has become this provincial political issue with groups getting involved who have nothing to do in the local region.”

A coalition of environmentalists yesterday called on Premier Gordon Campbell to reverse the Forest Ministry decision.