Locals concerned about illegal dumping on farm land in Fraser Valley
Hatzic Valley has seen 37 stop-work orders related to unauthorized dumping
Some residents of a farming community in British Columbia's Fraser Valley are worried about the environmental impacts of illegal dumping from construction sites on agricultural lands in the area.
In B.C., it's against the law to dump construction material on land that's reserved for farming without authorization. Both the rocky, low-quality dirt that's excavated from construction sites and any building materials from a demolition site must be taken to an authorized facility.
But some of the residents of Hatzic Valley, an approximately 1,300-person community about 50 kilometres east of Vancouver, say waste is being illegally dumped near their homes.
A community group and local government officials allege companies that remove construction materials are skirting landfill costs by dropping waste on farms, where it could potentially contaminate the land.
At the same time, B.C.'s Agricultural Land Commission (ALC), the province's tribunal regulating agricultural land usage, says despite issuing thousands of dollars in fines, it continues to get a lot of reports of illegal dumping.
Beata Kunze, president of the Hatzic Valley Community Association, said in April 2024 residents reported dump trucks lined up along the small roads of their community waiting for their chance to dump their loads on agricultural reserve land.
"Dump trucks were lined up around the roads and blocking traffic and dumping the fill almost 24/7 for weeks on end," said Kunze.
The exact contents of each dump truck is often unknown. But resident Lynn Strange, who works alongside Kunze, said there's evidence of construction garbage in some of the dumping, including remnants of broken toilets and building materials.
According to the ALC, companies save money by finding local property owners willing to accept the landfill at a lower rate than authorized sites.
Local government officials are also concerned about the location of the dumping.
"We've had cases where they're dumping fill right into the creek that's a spawning ground," said Hugh Davidson, the director of Electoral Area F in the Fraser Valley Regional District, the municipal region that includes Hatzic Valley.
Davidson said the ALC has issued 37 stop-work orders related to dumping construction fill in the area between late summer 2023 and late summer 2024, Davidson said.
"I've heard that it takes upwards of $1,000 in tipping fees to dispose of a load of construction fill [at an authorized site]," he said.
In one example of illegal dumping in the area, the owner of an Abbotsford trucking company had purchased an ALR-designated property in the Hatzic Valley. Government documents reviewed by CBC News detail how an ALC officer observed that company's trucks dumping fill at the site.
Furthermore, the documents say the officer spoke with the property owner, who said he'd brought in about 250 truckloads of fill. The ALC officer advised the owner to shut down the dumping operation that same day but they didn't comply then, nor did they comply with the officer's follow-up visits and official stop-work orders throughout the summer.
CBC News has attempted multiple times to contact the owner of the property but has not heard back.
'Really profit driven'
It can cost hundreds of dollars to dispose of a 10-tonne dump truck load of construction fill. For example, the Bailey Sanitary Landfill, about 26 kilometres southeast of Hatzic Valley, charges $115 per tonne for loads larger than five tonnes, according to its website.
That's why some companies find locals willing to accept the fill, said Kim Grout, CEO of the ALC.
"[It] is really profit driven," she said.
The ALC is a small agency that only takes action when someone makes a complaint, Grout said, and there are only six enforcement officers for the entire province.
According to the agency, 48 per cent of the 1,015 complaints on the books as of December 2024, from across the province, are about unauthorized fill placement.
The agency, Grout said, can impose administrative penalties on those who don't comply with a stop-work order, and it can use the courts to try to enforce the orders. But going to court is an administrative burden on the agency, she said, so it's rare.
Grout said she worries that for some companies the ALC fines, which can be as high as $100,000 are seen as "the cost of doing business."
B.C. Minister of Agriculture Lana Popham declined an interview but said in a statement that the ALC has issued more than two dozen stop-work orders in the Hatzic Valley area and more than $250,000 in fines. She did not specify over what time period.
In 2019, she added, the province changed the laws so that anyone bringing fill onto farmland would need to get approval from the ALC beforehand.
With little recourse available, Hatzic Valley residents say they spent two weeks last spring trying to block the trucks themselves. Videos from community members, shared with CBC News, show trucks attempting to stop at properties, but locals yell at them to go away.
"We formed a little group from the members of the community that said 'Enough is enough, we have to do something as citizens because this is our valley and we have to protect it,'" Kunze said.
The ALC also implemented patrols of the area around the clock in unmarked vehicles following the April 2024 dumping spree, Grout said.
"We feel like we were quite successful, eventually halting an activity that in some cases was going on late at night and early in the morning," she said.
It was quiet for a while, said locals, but dumping has since resumed, with at least one truck observed dumping fill on Saturday, Jan. 18.
The dumping isn't just happening in the Hatzic Valley, Davidson said.
"Anecdotally, I hear from other directors on the Fraser Valley Regional District Board that they're knocking on doors further east, trying to find other sites to do it on," he said.
Grout said she believes that monitoring construction fill from its origins could be a solution to the dumping.
"[We] need better management and planning [as to] what's happening with that material when it comes out, is it going to an authorized site?" she said.
With files from Belle Puri