There are many residents who aren’t happy with elected officials in Coldstream.
During Monday’s council debate on a development permit for a pellet plant, residents passionately expressed concern that such a facility will degrade air quality, particularly for students at adjacent Lavington Elementary School.
“I’m astounded we’re even considering this,” said resident Andy Danyliu.
“To install (emission) monitors after the fact to see what happened to our children may be too late.”
Now it’s natural for people in the area to ring alarm bells about a pellet plant and what it may do to the air they breathe, especially since there has been a long-standing concern about existing industrial activities there.
But while the conversation over air quality and expanded manufacturing next to homes and a school is legitimate, the District of Coldstream’s hands are largely tied.
“The (development) permit simply looks at the esthetics of the building, and does it meet the (district’s) guidelines,” Mike Reiley, the district’s director of development services, told the crowd.
“The development permit does not relate to Agricultural Land Reserve land or if the Ministry of Environment has issued a permit to operate the facility. It’s not related to emissions.”
That means Coldstream staff and council can only focus on specific guidelines, and they include the physical appearance of a building’s exterior, screening of storage areas, landscaping along roads and parking.
“The review of the application must be limited to determining whether or not the project meets the requirements of the guidelines,” said Reiley in a written report to council.
Yes, the district rezoned the property to allow for the industrial use in August, but it’s purely speculative that shooting it down then would have stopped the proposal in its tracks.
The reality now is that zoning is in place, and Mayor Jim Garlick says withholding a development permit for matters outside of municipal jurisdiction could put the district in contravention of provincial legislation.
That means that who owns the property or operates the plant is irrelevant to the district. While residents may want to appeal the Ministry of Environment’s permission for Pinnacle Renewable Energy to discharge contaminants into the air, the municipality cannot legally block a development permit to put pressure on the government. To do so could put all Coldstream taxpayers at risk of penalty.
Coldstream council was also asked by residents to put consideration of the development permit in abeyance while the Agricultural Land Commission reviews its decision to allow a pellet plant as a non-farm use in the Agricultural Land Reserve. But if the ALC overturns its original decision, a development permit from the district doesn’t matter. The plant could not proceed at that site without non-farm status.
Beyond the development permit, the only other ongoing role for Coldstream is water connections to the site, ensuring there is a fire plan and addressing potential traffic issues on School Road (not Highway 6 as it is a provincial route).
In the end, residents likely took their frustrations to Coldstream council because local politicians are right here and easy to approach. That’s the complete opposite of the far-off bureaucracies that dominate the Ministry of Environment and the ALC. Appearing before these bodies is virtually impossible.
Those challenges aside, though, the future of the pellet plant rests completely with provincial agencies. The District of Coldstream can only do what it’s permitted to do — no more, no less.
