On March 27, a judge dismissed the third lawsuit against the District of Sechelt for bylaws they passed that allow Target Marine Hatcheries to harvest caviar from sturgeon on site.
It was the third lawsuit launched by Tillicum Bay resident Shirley Kuciuk, although other residents joined her during the first lawsuit filed in 2008.Each lawsuit pointed to procedural errors and called for a quashing of the bylaws. In the first two instances, the judge sided with the plaintiffs.
This time, however, the honourable Justice Braken found the District did things by the book.
"In all of the circumstances, I am satisfied that the District has complied with all aspects of its duty of procedural fairness, and the petition in this case must be dismissed," he said.
Kuciuk's latest lawsuit alleged the District should have provided more information to the public about the type of waste disposal systems that could be used on site.
The District argued it wasn't relevant to "the issue of the bylaws, as the focus of the bylaws is how the property is used and not the detail of waste water management," court documents show.
The judge agreed and noted, "I do not consider it necessary for Sechelt to have disclosed all the details of possible methods of disposing of waste water in order to comply with section 890 of the Local Government Act. I am satisfied on the evidence given that the District has met its duty to disclose all relevant information."
Sechelt Mayor John Henderson was pleased with the judge's decision.
"This is a ruling by the court that confirms we acted appropriately, and so that's gratifying. We were certainly confident, but you never know with the courts, so to have it ratified or confirmed is great. It lets us put this all behind us and move on to bigger and better things," he said.
He was unsure how much money had been spent to fight the lawsuit and noted the District hadn't made any decisions yet about seeking payment from Kuciuk for costs incurred.
"The judge has provided his ruling and we're just happy with what he had to say," Henderson said.
Target Marine Hatcheries manager Justin Henry said he was also happy with the judge's ruling.
"We're pleased to be moving ahead with producing our world class caviar. We now have one of the best, if not the best caviar processing facilities in the world," he said.
Target has been harvesting caviar on site since August of last year and they now have a weekly production schedule.
In addition to the company's caviar, which is exported to markets around the world, Target supplies sturgeon meat to B.C. and Alberta markets.
He said the company has been doing business as usual without much concern for the outcome of the lawsuit.
"My concern was more from the perspective of being a taxpayer in Sechelt," Henry said.
Kuciuk was unavailable for comment.
