Neighbours of Trail Bay Estates (TBE) in West Sechelt are fed up with the on-site blasting they say is damaging their homes, frightening their families and posing a risk to their safety.
A risk was identified last week by residents when a blast sent pieces of rock hurtling through the air and into a roof nearby. "Last Thursday at about 1:10 p.m. two pieces of rock went through my roof and some pieces also peppered the driveway," resident Plunkett Mallon said, "But that's not my main concern. Safety is my main concern. My roof can be fixed. People can't be fixed."
Calls to the Workers Compensation Board (WCB) resulted in all blasting being halted at the site while WCB investigates the incident. The District of Sechelt (DOS) is now investigating further measures to ensure public safety.
This isn't the first time flying rock has landed on nearby property. Kim King and Glyn Rose say that two large pieces of rock were launched about 200 metres from a blast site at TBE on Jan. 18. One of those rocks landed on their deck, destroying a patio table and ripping a hole through the deck, even putting a divot in the cement below.
That "fly rock" was the result of faulty dynamite, according to TBE site supervisor and part owner Al Hemstreet.
"We found faulty dynamite product was used and we stopped using it," he said, noting damage caused by fly rock would be fixed by TBE.
The incident caused great stress for King and Rose who noted the sundeck is the primary area of play for their seven-year-old handicapped son Cody.
"It's the only safe place he really has to play here and now he can't even go outside to play there. Thank God he wasn't there when the rock hit," King said.
Her daughter, eight-year-old Tonielle, has feared for her safety at times, with blasts that literally shake the foundation of the family household.
"These blasts shake the house, the glasses rattle, the floors vibrate. It's enough to almost take you off your feet," King said.She and many other property owners nearby have voiced concern over the impact of the blasting many feel is damaging their homes.
King and Rose point to several cracks in the drywall, tile and ceiling, as well as in the foundation of their home that they say showed up only after blasting started at the TBE site late last year.
They requested a pre-blast inspection be done, but say TBE failed to provide one so Rose hired someone from off-Coast to come in and do the inspection.
Hemstreet admitted some households nearby were not offered pre-blast inspections.
"That was something I asked for specifically, but it didn't get done. There was some human error there," he said.
Residents who spoke to Coast Reporter this week said pre-blast inspections were never offered. Rather they were requested by property owners months after blasting had begun at the site and residents realized they might be necessary to prove damages directly resulted from blasting.
Hemstreet noted that pre-blast inspections were not a requirement in the beginning, but changes in requirements from the DOS made them mandatory earlier this year.
"Pre-blast inspections have now been done for the entire area except for a couple of homes. I guess the people were not there or they didn't complain," he noted.
Regardless, Hemstreet says blasting in the area is not the cause of cracks in drywall, ceilings, tiles and foundations in nearby households.
"We have been told by the experts that our blasts aren't doing any damage. We have that from three different experts," he said, adding the fly rock incidents were different. They were accidents that shouldn't have happened.
"We never wanted that to happen, but we can't make everything rosy when it's a scary sport. We're going in and breaking rock and it doesn't always do what we tell it to do," he said, noting the blasting company hired by TBE has been following safety procedures to limit fly rock, but accidents do sometimes happen.
He feels that TBE has been made out to be the bad guys in this situation when all along they have been working well within blasting limits laid out by WCB.
"It's just like driving in a 50 km an hour zone and someone coming up and saying you're speeding when you're doing eight km. That's what it's been like for Trail Bay Estates," he said.
He thinks people are simply reacting to the blasting negatively because they don't know much about the blasting process."A blast is startling and in no way warm and fuzzy. You feel it all of a sudden and it puts you on alert and you're looking around to see if it did any damage. If you see a new crack you relate it to the blast, but at the same time it may be because your wood stove is drying out your house and causing the drywall to crack. We are sympathetic, but the information we're getting is that we are not doing any damage," Hemstreet said.
Director of Engineering at the DOS, Ken Tang, admits he is not an expert in blasting and that the District has had to update bylaws and look at enforcing new requirements for blasters to deal with public concerns.
"I have had a lot of phone calls from people complaining about the blasting. That's what most of the complaints have been about that have come in in the last couple of weeks," Tang said.
The recent fly rock incident that launched two rocks into Mallon's roof prompted the DOS to put new regulations in place through consultation with WCB.
A representative from WCB was at the DOS earlier this week talking about the incident and brainstorming ways to ensure public safety, said Tang.
"We are trying to work together to find a solution," he noted.
That solution may include installing cameras on-site to film each blast, although Tang admits that will not prevent another flying rock incident from occurring.
He says the blaster who was responsible for the incident has been let go by TBE and Hemstreet says another blaster will be hired to finish the work needed at the site.
The District is also requiring smaller blast holes to be drilled when in close proximity to houses to lessen blast effects and they want to see blast plans certified by experts before permits are issued by the District.
Those blasting permits are good for only 10 days at a time and Tang says the District holds the right to pull those permits at any time if they feel the public's safety is in jeopardy.
The DOS and WCB were also planning to meet with the principal at Chatelech Secondary School this week to talk about added safety measures in that area when blasting nearby occurs.
The TBE property runs up from the highway well past Chatelech.
"So we are doing what we can to address concerns," Tang said.
TBE originally planned to be finished blasting in the area by now, but they say restraints by the DOS have slowed down their operations. Now Hemstreet hopes to be finished by the end of April. However, blasting will not start up again until WCB concludes their investigation and allows the operation to continue.
At press time Thursday afternoon that investigation was not complete, but Tang noted blasting near the highway might start again as soon as this weekend.
"We might consider to very quickly issue a temporary blasting permit so they can finish the highway work because there's only a small area they need to work on on the highway, so it can get done in that area - as long as they satisfy the safety aspect to WCB and to the DOS," he said.
Many homeowners in the area are not convinced the added regulations and safety measures will be enough and some are asking for a meeting with all parties involved.
"There needs to be some kind of public process, some meeting of the minds," Mallon said.
Sechelt Mayor Cam Reid said Wednesday he did not feel such a meeting was warranted with council.
"I think what we would like to see is safety and inconvenience to the public, the disruptions, the delay, handled professionally by both our staff and also the provincial authorities that deal with blasting, WCB and the like. And there have been meetings by our staff with the neighbours most directly impacted trying to identify and address the concerns as much as can be done," Reid said, noting DOS staff would keep council informed on the issue.
Some residents are now seeking legal council.
