|
The
sprawling Bear Mountain Resort at the north entrance to Greater
Victoria is the largest planet-trashing, get-rich-quick development
project currently underway on Vancouver Island. If you haven't
seen Bear Mountain yet, hike up Mt. Finlayson from Goldstream Park and
prepare to get grossed out. As far as the eye can see, the Highland
hilltops which backdrop Victoria are being stripped of trees, blasted
flat and squared off into staggered terraces. The entire top of Skirt Mountain has been decapitated, and now sports a massive concrete reservoir and pumping station which feeds a huge artificial waterfall installation above the golf course. The
still-steaming stump fields are being plowed away, burnt, and replaced
with a fluorescent green, chemical and water-sucking biological
wasteland, specially designed by American golf fanatic Jack Nicklaus. Among
the remaining stumps, an ancient Songhees lithic scatter site stands
out, marked with fluttering orange flags. Nearby, a once-sacred cave
has been demolished.
Another BC Developer
Blast rock rubble is dumped straight into
the watersheds which drain the mountain, flattening out the valleys to
make way for more subdivision. Monster houses rise up in ranks. Roads
are snaked all over the mountain, with massive crew cabs full of
workmen dodging Hummers and Navigators.
But the Bear Mountain
development scheme is only halfway complete. Having completed Phase One
using existing infrastructure, developers require more access to
proceed with Phase Two. They desperately need this interchange to
double their money. Their project can't proceed without it, and they're
antsy to get on with it.
The interchange consortium — Bear
Mountain, the City of Langford, the Ministry of Transportation and
Golder Associates — announced at a November public meeting that the
Bear Mountain interchange would proceed. Tree cutting was to commence
in mid-December.
Last year, Les Bjola of Bear Mountain and
Langford Mayor Stew Young promised that developers would finance the
total $30-million cost. Shortly after that, in a ridiculous display of fiscal
irresponsibility, B.C. Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon threw
$4.9-million of public money into the interchange pot, even though
developers had already promised to pay.
Not to be outdone, at a
secret meeting two days after Christmas, Langford municipal council
passed three readings of a bill to borrow $25-million — more than
double the city's annual budget — apparently to ease the stress of the
developers. Now the taxpayers of Langford will bear all the risk and
cross their fingers that developers will pay them back over 10 years.
Rather
than consult the people now slated to bankroll the interchange, only
Bear Mountain developers and their associates were consulted. Outraged
citizens are now in a one-month canvassing campaign of Langford
taxpayers, petitioning for a referendum. Even Langford residents who
support the interchange are signing the petitions.
There are
other obstacles thwarting the developers, which include the rejection
of the bogus Golder Associates Environmental and Archaeological Impact
Assessments by the B.C. government in December 2006. No assessment of
any kind has been conducted on the latest alignment of the interchange
route. No new Golder report has been forthcoming, and the project can't
proceed until their report has been approved.
Golder's report
was likely rejected because it missed the most significant features of
the interchange site, including numerous karst sinkholes, which could
yield important archeological and paleontological resources. Karst
sinkholes are often indicators of subterranean caverns.
Many of
the sinkholes show evidence of historic excavations, but nobody knows
anything about these diggings. They failed to examine a limestone cave
between Leigh Road and Highway 1 "because of safety issues and First
Nations concerns."
Golder's rubber stamping of Bear Mountain
interchange is an insult to the burgeoning environmental community in
Greater Victoria. Until recently, Golder has flown under the radar of
environmentalists, quietly approving massive corporate and government
projects across the province. Not any more. They are now outed, and they will be closely watched.
Meanwhile, the tree sitters remain
on high alert, ready to block any attempt to trash the forest. By the
looks of this growing mess, they may well be there for a long time to
come.
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
