UPDATE: Ad hoc 'Keep Jumbo Wild' group scores victory
By Contributor
Score one for the underdog.
Opponents of the 5000 bed ski resort in Jumbo Valley in the East Kootenays said Jumbo Glacier Resort backed off its BC Supreme Court application to prevent residents from blocking a road into the Farnham Glacier 55 km west of Invermere.
The resort was granted a general adjournment in a Vancouver BC Supreme courtroom Monday.
“We challenged them publicly to show what authority they have to cat-ski and alter the Farnham Glacier,” Johnsons Landing resident Rob Meaney, the Defendant in the resort’s application, said in a press release.
Meaney has been one of a number of campers on the road to the glacier since the camp was set up in late July.
“Glacier Resorts ran out of court because they are unable to defend their activities,” Meaney said.
In late July, campers set up the Citizens Democracy checkpoint in the Farnham Valley when an excavator was discovered at the toe of Farnham Glacier.
The ad hoc group said it was staying on site to monitor the activities of the Resort development.
“The province has yet to set up any monitoring and compliance program,” camp participant K.Linda Kivi added in the release.
“Given past violations by Glacier Resorts, we believe we are dealing with an irresponsible developer.”
“We have documented numerous violations by Glacier Resorts of their Master Development Agreement and Environmental Assessment Certificate with the province,” Kivi said.
“We wanted this case heard because, for one, we were not blockading as they claimed in their injunction application,” said Kivi. “And secondly, we wanted to establish what authority they have to engage in activities that are in violation of their commitments.”
Glacier Resorts later brought an excavator to the Farnham site on Saturday August 24 and dug some test holes in the rocky ground at the site of the proposed “boutique lodge”, Kivi said.
The Resort was granted a general adjournment in Court, but the Justice ordered that the resort’s vice president, Grant Costello, must be present at any future hearings.
Although the resort was given resort municipality status by the province of BC in 2012, the release said the issue remains contentious with a vast majority of East and West Kootenay residents who oppose the development.
Kootenay resident in court challenging Jumbo Glacier Jumbo Resort’s application
A Kootenay resident is challenging Jumbo Glacier Resort’s application for an injunction to remove him from the Farnham Glacier Road near the proposed resort.
The application to prevent Rob Meaney from blocking the road to Farnham Glacier will be heard Monday (August 26) in the Vancouver Law Courts, just days after the resort was able to move their construction machinery to the Farnham Glacier.
Jumbo Glacier Resorts Ltd filed an injunction application on August 15, 2013 in Vancouver, saying that they were prevented from accessing the glacier by a van blocking the roadway on Saturday, August 10.
“As far as I’m concerned, Glacier Resorts is trying to distract the public by creating the illusion of progress, despite their failure to commence construction before October 12, 2014”, said Meaney, referring to the deadline for construction imposed by the Environmental Assessment Certificate.
Meaney, a Johnsons Landing resident, spent time at the camp, and is now a defendant in the lawsuit and a respondent to the injunction application.
“The van wasn’t really blocking their passage, and the work they wanted to do was unauthorized,” said Meaney. “The whole thing is like a game of chess or hearts; we played a lot of hearts at the camp.”
In late July, about a dozen Kootenay residents set up a camp next to the Farnham Glacier road 50 km west of Invermere to monitor the resort’s activities at the glacier. They discovered that Jumbo Glacier Resorts intended to engage in unauthorized work on the glacier, Meaney said.
“We were concerned that the resort was going to alter the Farnham Glacier to allow for cat skiing on the glacier in August. According to the agreement the resort signed with the province, any alteration of any glacier is prohibited.”
Although the resort has now been given municipality status by the provincial government, Meaney said that opposition remains strong to the resort that has been contentious since it was proposed more than 20 years ago.
“A vast majority of Kootenay residents still oppose this resort. It’s their backyard and they know it won’t benefit them in the long run,” Meaney said.
“It’s a tough battle to fight, finding the balance between the actions we can take in the physical and legal worlds. It’s the glaciers and the grizzlies that are at risk, not papers and words.”
Two applications to stop construction of the resort have already been filed in BC Supreme Court.
One application by the Ktunaxa people in the East Kootenays contends that the Jumbo Glacier Resort failed to consult them and that the Jumbo Valley has significant sacred values for the people. This application will be heard over 10 days in January of 2014.
The second application by the West Kootenay EcoSociety in Nelson alleges that the appointment of municipality status to the resort by the Province of BC contravenes the Charter of Rights. No court dates have been set to hear this application.
Jumbo Glacier Resort’s injunction application was first set for a hearing on August 19, but the hearing was adjourned to Monday August 26 in Vancouver to allow for affidavit material.
East and West Kootenay citizens are still monitoring the resort’s actions Meaney said.
