A developer in B.C.’s Okanagan has been penalized nearly $160,000 for failing to properly monitor and maintain a wastewater system that leaked human effluent into a vineyard.
Four penalties were handed to Vintage Views Developments Ltd. and sole director Johnny Joseph Aantjes for dozens of violations spanning 2022 to 2024, according to a May 13 decision by the director of B.C.’s Environmental Management Act, Kelly Mills.
About 90 homes at the Heritage Hills development are connected to a private wastewater treatment plant and underground disposal field overlooking Skaha Lake. Mills noted that in the past, effluent has been observed surfacing and flowing overland.
“The disposal field is located beneath an active vineyard,” wrote the director in her decision.
Mills said the violations—especially surrounding fecal coliform—also had the potential to cause harm by contaminating nine groundwater supply wells located downslope of the disposal field, including one that is well within 100 metres.
At a minimum, the absence of monitoring in the receiving environment “poses a risk of harm to human health” while repeated discharges “undermines the basic integrity of the overarching regulatory regime,” the director wrote.
Fecal coliform levels climb more than 60,000% above limits
When inspectors visited the site, they found the developer had failed to provide notice to the Ministry of Environment and Parks of damage that caused breaches in effluent quality.
Testing showed the developer surpassed regulatory limits for total suspended solids and organic pollutants. And when it came to fecal coliform, the effluent was found to exceed allowable limits by between three per cent and 60,400 per cent.
“The magnitude of the fecal coliform exceedances indicate that the facility has failed to disinfect the effluent in any measurable way,” wrote Mills.
Inspectors tested 112 samples between May 2022 and May 2024. Of those, 43 exceeded effluent quality requirements, including 33 samples that breached the fecal coliform limit.
Vintage Views was also found to be out of complacent for failing to carry out monitoring of the receiving environment; for not installing well monitors; and for failing to regularly monitor for effluent quality.
Developer says he faced unfair process
In submissions to the ministry, Aantjes claimed his company was not given opportunities to interview multiple witnesses, including government employees, local residents and the private sector.
“The continued refusal of multiple government staff member including those in your department to participate in good faith resolution efforts, regardless of numerous requests being made, is stunning and appalling,” reads one submission from the developer.
The company requested access to ministry employees to question them as witnesses. But in her decision, Mills said Vintage Views had failed to identify “who they wish to question, why they wish to question them, and what specific information they are seeking.”
The developer had previously listed a number of concerns it had with the province’s Administrative Monetary Penalty process. Some of those included: abuse of power and process; breach of duty of good faith and fairness; and a scheme to punish private property owner into financial distress.
The latest penalties come less than two months after the BC Environmental Appeal Board upheld almost $200,000 in penalties for previous wastewater violations at Heritage Hills between 2013 and 2022.
“Yes, we’ve made mistakes. But at the end of the day, it’s not a very level or fair playing field,” said Aantjes in an interview. “I didn’t build this system. I took it over.”
Aantjes told BIV communities and developers across B.C. should be wary of rising provincial standards for wastewater and drinking water.
“You’re going to be seeing this happen more and more,” Aantjes said. “It’s not just a money grab, it’s a power grab. They want control of the utilities.”
Developer claims ‘weaponization of law enforcement’
Vintage Views asserted in submissions that its client faced a number of penalties after a community “campaign of complaint” and “weaponization of law enforcement.”
The company later implied the objective of the monetary penalties was to force the company into giving up business assets as a result of financial distress, according to the decision.
“I strongly disagree [with] these conclusions,” wrote Mills.
The director wrote that Vintage Views chose to operate a wastewater facility that is regulated under the Environmental Management Act. Therefore, Mills added, they are legally required to comply with its requirements—“compliance that they have repeatedly failed to demonstrate.”
Mills said the penalties were not handed out with the intent of forcing the sale of the facility to the regional district. Rather, the director said, they are the sole result of the company failing to meet its regulatory requirements.
In submission, Vintage Views said Aantjes had repeatedly tried to convince the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen to acquire the wastewater utility. But the district repeatedly refused to do so.
In response, Mills stated it was beyond her role to evaluate the purchasing policies of municipal governments.
Wastewater utility to be taken over by regional district
In April 2025, 104 residents voted to approve a plan for the regional district to take on Vintage Views Wastewater System. Twelve opposed the plan.
The agreement includes borrowing up to $13.5 million for upgrades of the Lakeshore Waterworks System and $7 million for the Vintage Views Wastewater System.
Matt Taylor, RDOS electoral area “D” director for Skaha East and Okanagan Falls, said the transfer of operations means the facility will now be eligible for grant funding and municipal financing, which both have the potential to reduce the amount paid by residents and property owners.
“This decision has been a long time coming, and it’s great that the residents can now know the future direction their water and wastewater services will be taking,” Taylor said at the time.
Mills reduced the overall penalty to Vintage Views by several thousand dollars for its efforts to sell the wastewater utility to the regional district.
Though expensive, Aantjes said transferring the wastewater facility to the regional district will be in the best interest of the community.
“In the end, it will be good for me to focus on other things,” Aantjes said.
—With files from Castanet
