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City fines developer over construction runoff

The City of Burnaby has fined Adera, the developer behind an Eastlake Drive construction site that was leaching silty runoff into nearby Silver Creek.
Streamkeeper sounds alarm over construction runoff_0

The City of Burnaby has fined Adera, the developer behind an Eastlake Drive construction site that was leaching silty runoff into nearby Silver Creek.

“Currently, they have to bring the site under control,” said Dipak Dattani, Burnaby’s assistant director of engineering.

The city has been investigating the site, following complaints from local streamkeeper John Preissl, who went to media with photos of the silty runoff overflowing from the site. On Monday, Burnaby issued a stop-work order after another bout of heavy rain washed silty runoff into a nearby storm drain, which leads to Silver Creek. The local stream is considered sensitive fish habitat, and silt can smother eggs and cause breathing problems for fish.

Dattani said the city issued seven tickets for two cases of allowing leakage or contamination into a stream. Adera Developments was issued four tickets; the design engineering firm was issued one ticket and the environmental monitoring firm was issued two tickets. Each ticket carries a $500 fine. As a result, the developer has to install and maintain sediment control ponds.

While Preissl also raised concerns about city work upstream, Dattani said that work was completed a couple of weeks ago and that it’s not contributing to the sediment. Meanwhile, the city is keeping an eye on the site.

“We’re still pursuing the ongoing investigation,” Dattani said. “Having these tickets issued and putting a stop-work (order) does not say that we’re done. We’re still continuing to work with the developer-contractor and the design engineer to make sure the site is going to be under control.”

Adera’s “Eastlake Campus” features six buildings on the south slope of Burnaby Mountain, just below the Forest Grove area. Construction started years ago, and four of the buildings are already done. The remaining two should be built by 2017.

Adera president Norm Couttie said the company is doing all it can to resolve the problem.

“It’s very rare we have problems like this, but the weather has been very extraordinary lately,” Couttie said, adding they are working in the fish window, the period when nearby work impacts fish the least. “It was a perfect storm for us.”

Couttie said the company is deepening a pond to catch more water and adding more pumps.

Correction: The original story said nine tickets were issued, but it was actually seven.