A heated and political debate that divided a community over a proposed fish processing plant may not be over.
Sixteen individuals from the Tuwanek area who filed a Supreme Court challenge against the District of Sechelt (DOS) over the rezoning of land that would allow Target Marine Hatcheries to build a small processing plant will continue, despite the DOS backing down.
"We're just relieved the District recognized that the process was flawed," said Kathy Turner, one of the petitioners. "We had hoped [filing the challenge] would be a quick way to resolve it."
The bylaw adopted in October 2008 by the previous council allows for a plant on .35 ha of Target Marine's 4.4ha property where Target hopes to process white sturgeon and extract its roe, an expensive food delicacy.
At the time, councillors Keith Thirkell, Darren Inkster and Warren Allan opposed the adoption while councillors Barry Poole, Ed Steeves, Mike Shanks and Mayor Cam Reid voted in favour.
The neighbours' biggest concerns were about potential smell, noise from fans, potentially harmful effluent that might empty into sensitive Porpoise Bay and a verbal commitment they received years ago that a processing plant would never be built.
Target Marine's manager Justin Henry took the news in stride that the DOS decided not to defend the challenge. He said their lawyers told them "we had a pretty good chance to win." Last week, Target Marine was successful in convincing a judge to add them as a party respondent so they may defend the challenge on behalf of the DOS in court.
"We're continuing to grow the fish for now," Henry said, adding some are nine years old and weigh up to 90 kilograms. "We have fish we'd like to process soon, but zoning is only the first step."
Henry said they still have to go through the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Agriculture and Lands assessments before a processing plant could be built. District planning director Ray Parfitt said their lawyers told them they might lose the Supreme Court challenge for three procedural reasons: Target's tonnage quota of processed fish; that Target did not file their waste management plan until after the public hearing, which meant the public did not have opportunity to comment on it; and some who are now proponents of the challenge were allowed to ask questions at council that required new information.
Proponents are now waiting for Target to present material of its defence, and Target Marine is waiting for a court date to be set.
In the meantime, Target Marine, the only white sturgeon farm in Canada, won another award, this time for innovation and leadership at the Sunshine Coast Business Awards of Distinction last Friday night (see page A22).
Target has been recognized with several awards for their efforts to revive white sturgeon, a threatened species, by partnering in a research project with Fresh Water Fisheries Society of B.C. and for their work toward producing white sturgeon caviar, a valued commodity that became difficult to obtain after sturgeon were fished to near extinction in the Caspian Sea.
