Is it a creek, or a ditch? Does it have fish, or not? Those are the key questions underlying a dispute between the Town of Gibsons and a property owner on Burns Road.
The watercourse known as Goosebird Creek goes through the currently vacant Lot 22, as well as 305, 311 and 319 Burns Rd.
Retired engineer Garry Spencer is handling the development process for Lot 22, which is owned by his son. He claims the Town is holding up approvals for a development permit, because it wants its own plan for Goosebird Creek to go ahead.
The Town wants to use money from development cost charges to cover a $300,000 project to realign and “naturalize” the creek. The plan calls for the alteration of the course of the creek through Arrowhead Park so it would flow along the northern property line of Lot 22, and through a new “fish-friendly” culvert under Burns Road.
Letters were sent to affected property owners in April, asking them to indicate support for the project, which needs provincial approval.
Spencer is proposing to install a covered culvert to take water from an open, concrete channel on a neighbouring property, across Lot 22 and out following the present course. He’s already had approval at the provincial level. The Town’s plan would see that concrete channel decommissioned.
“It’s a ditch, not a creek,” Spencer maintains.
His key piece of evidence is a signed and witnessed statement from a man who said he was working with Valid Construction in 1971 when the company installed sewer lines from Glassford Road to LaBronte Park. The project included digging a drainage ditch. The now-retired worker claims there was no stream in the area, and 10 or 15 years later people started calling the ditch dug by the construction crews Goosebird Creek.
Spencer also points to a report prepared by his environmental consultant, which says Goosebird is a storm water ditch that is not fish-bearing.
The Town, for its part, said Goosebird meets the definition of a creek under provincial rules, and there are documented references to a creek in that area, going by various names and dating back at least as far as the 1960s, and that fish would return with rehabilitation.
The Goosebird Creek project is in the local environmental stewardship section of the Town’s current strategic plan.
Director of engineering Dave Newman said there are several benefits to bypassing the concrete channel at 311 Burns, and doing the other work. He said the Town sees the project as a potential win-win.
Spencer appeared at council’s June 21 committee of the whole meeting, and it was the first time most on council heard about the issue.
“To our knowledge, there are no basic problems that need remedy,” Spencer told councillors. “You don’t have any expressions from residents of the area saying ‘why aren’t we realigning this creek? It’s giving us a problem.’ Why spend so much money when there isn’t a problem to address?”
According to Spencer, most people he’s talked with are not prepared to support the Town’s project. “Myself and my neighbours, both, will not support the realignment.”
He also expressed frustration with the delays in getting a development permit. “I find it quite disappointing. It’s been a year that I’ve been waiting for this,” he told the committee.
Spencer also argues that designating Goosebird as a creek, with the riparian area protection rules that come along with it, imposes an unfair financial burden on property owners. He cites the example of a property owner further upstream who spent $15,000 on environmental assessments and faces a $5,000 cost to meet landscaping requirements along the creek’s banks.
Town CAO Emanuel Machado told Coast Reporter that staff has been working with Spencer to try to find common ground.
“We’ve put forward alternative options, with financial benefits as well. Unfortunately we haven’t been able to come to an agreement, but it hasn’t been for lack of trying. We remain committed to finding a solution.”
Newman added that if Spencer was willing to meet the conditions the Town wants for issuing a development permit, he could follow that option on Lot 22 instead of the Town’s plan.
After his presentation to the committee, Spencer agreed to file a written request to have council review the file. He said his only other option at this stage is litigation. It’s not clear when council will conduct the review.
