Province wades into concrete plant battle

By Naoibh O'Connor-Staff writer

Only three months after it seemed certain construction on Lafarge Canada Inc.'s concrete batch plant would go ahead on Vancouver's Eastside, opponents are celebrating another delay.

The Burrard Neighbourhood Association has been fighting plans to build the facility for more than six years. It's slated to be erected on the waterfront near the Ironworkers' Memorial Bridge on the old Sterling shipyard's land east of Victoria Drive on Commissioner Street. The association is concerned about noise and dust.

After all this time, however, there are still questions about whether the federal or provincial government has jurisdiction over the land in debate and whether the plant constitutes a marine use, which is necessary for the proposal to proceed.

Last fall, the B.C. Supreme Court ruled that it did not constitute a shipping or marine use under the port's governing rules. That decision was then challenged in the B.C. Court of Appeal, which in late February found that the B.C. Supreme Court did not have the authority to make that determination-that would have to be decided by the Federal Court of Canada. It also ruled that the federal government had jurisdiction over the land on which the plant is to be built.

Though unhappy with the decision, the Burrard Neighbourhood Association was not in a financial position to take the case to the Supreme Court of Canada because it had already racked up close to $100,000 in expenses.

However, the provincial government, which was an intervener in the last case, recently launched its own appeal on issues of jurisdiction. The appeal hasn't been accepted yet.

"What this could mean is the whole issue is tied up [in court] for the next couple years," says Shane Simpson, president of the Burrard Neighbourhood Association. "It's good news. We're very pleased the province took it forward."

The association had told members it thought the appeal court decision was wrong, but it simply wasn't in a position to appeal any further because costs were prohibitive.

"Now, the province has essentially taken that on on their own. They have their own interests but they happen to be compatible with our interests," he said. "We're very excited about that and the provincial government has the capacity to take it as far as it needs to go."

But Jim Crandles, director of port development, maintains the plant could still be built before the case is settled.

"Certainly, the whole court case has delayed things, but there are still remedies that would allow us to pursue the project," he said.

The Port has asked the Treasury Board to approve a change in designation for the land. The reclassification would allow manufacturing and processing on the property without any jurisdictional questions with the province.

"As I understand it, the appeal is not about the province being opposed to the batch plant, it's about the province being opposed to the [appeal court] decision as it relates to constitutional and jurisdictional questions," Crandles said.

But Simpson sees the effort to have the land reclassified as an attempt to end-run the court process. He said the Port tried to do the same thing when it lost the B. C. Supreme Court battle.

He noted Mayor Larry Campbell and MP Libby Davies asked the federal government to refuse the request and respect the process. "I know they hadn't gotten anywhere with it at that time. It'll be interesting to see how the province responds to that," said Simpson, adding that only the minister can take such a request to the Treasury Board-something that wouldn't happen until after the election.

Calls to Lafarge and the lawyer handling the appeal for the province's Attorney General were not returned by the Courier's deadline.