Owner of former Smurfit-Stone site found guilty of failing to clean up property

The owner of the former Smurfit-Stone mill site in Bathurst has been found guilty of failing to clean up the property and will be sentenced on June 17.

Bathurst Redevelopment Inc., was on trial in Bathurst provincial court on Friday, but had no lawyers or representatives present to mount a defence.

The company had failed to show up in court on four previous occasions to enter a plea on the charge, so a judge had granted a request by the Crown for an ex parte trial, which does not require the defendant to be present.

Companies convicted under the provincial Clean Environment Act can face penalties of up to $1 million.

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Crown prosecutor Marc Bourgeois called two witnesses on Friday — Michel Poirier, an inspector and professional engineer with the provincial Department of Environment in Fredericton, and David Leduc, an inspector with the Department of Public Safety.

The Department of Environment regulates the decommissioning of properties, such as Smurfit-Stone, which closed in 2005.

A decommissioning plan, which followed provincial regulations, was put into place in 2006 and decommissioning activities began in 2008, said Poirier, who had several maps and a box full of evidence.

But the site was sold in 2010 to Bathurst Redevelopment Inc., a Canadian subsidiary of Illinois-based Green Investment Group.

Promised 'green cleanup'

The real estate development company had promised a "green cleanup" of the site, which is located about one kilometre from the heart of the city. But the site was only stripped of valuable metals and equipment and what remains has been described as an eyesore.

After three years of zero voluntary compliance, the company was served in April 2015 with a cleanup order under the Clean Environment Act, which was signed by the Environment minister, the courtroom heard.

The order expired 120 days later without compliance or any action by the company, Poirier said.

Enforcement was then pursued by the Department of Public Safety.

The company's lawyer, Gregory Riordon, resigned in 2015, after the ministerial order was issued, the courtroom heard.

But the ministerial order and notice of intention were sent to Raymond Stillwell, of Illinois, who was listed as the owner on the company's 2013 annual return, notifying him of the court date.

The Crown argued it's a simple case — the order was issued, served, expired and not adhered to.

Judge Ronald LeBlanc agreed and found the company had been proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Sentencing was adjourned until June 17 at 1:30 p.m. to allow the Crown to collect victim impact statements.

Almost $1 million is owing on the property in back taxes.

About 270 people were put out of work when the mill closed.