The piles of gravel and dirt from remediation of the old CP bulk fuel station is dragging down the quality of life and business of everyone living around them, said the owner of a well-known pub and historical building.
Christin Cousins-Starchuk, owner of the Grand Forks Station Pub, addressed these concerns with City Council during the June 9 Committee of the Whole meeting. She’s already sent two letters to Mayor Everett Baker and Council on this, she said, detailing hers and the community’s concerns.
Stressing she wasn't there for personal monetary reasons, or wanting a long fight with the current property owners, but to come up with a friendly resolution to mitigating the issue at hand.
“As we know, when the dust blows, we have respiratory issues, allergies, soiling of homes, clogging of filters and contamination of equipment,” she said. “As you are aware, there are two bylaws in the neighbours’ favour: the noise control bylaw and the unsightly premises bylaw.”
The unsightly premises bylaw, however, doesn’t cover dirt and dust, said Starchuk. She asked if the two bylaws could be reviewed and amalgamated to create a new nuisance bylaw, with dust that interferes with a person’s use or enjoyment of property included.
She brought an example of Maple Ridge’s nuisance dust bylaw to show it could be done.
City of Grand Forks CAO Duncan Redfearn said amending the bylaw was on council’s agenda, which would give Council the power to mitigate dust under certain circumstances on private property. However, it wouldn’t be until the June 23 meeting before Council could adopt it.
Councillor Deborah Lafleur moved to have the first three readings by the afternoon, which everyone voted in favour for.
He added this wasn’t about just one property, but would cover the city as there have been several complaints about dust and noise from other properties.
Starchuk also personally asked Mayor Everett Baker to arrange a meeting with the property owners, the Koch brothers, himself and herself to hopefully have a friendly resolution in a timely manner.
Starchuk did offer a solution to this issue, pointing out hydroseeding that has been done around flood mitigation projects in the city being effective for dust control and erosion. Redfearn said Gene Koch had been asking about the hydroseeding the city had done, so it seems to be a solution they are considering.
The project is between Donaldson Drive, Central Avenue and Coalchute Road, which used to be where CP rail had its bulk fuel storage and rail yard. This is part of an ongoing remediation and home construction partnership between the city and the Koch brothers, dating back to 2020. The project included removing contaminated soil and gravel and levelling the ground to make way for housing construction.
There were concerns raised by councillors then about dust and noise during the application and review process, which at the time developers said this would be mitigated with water sprinklers.
After her formal presentation, Starchuk asked a few questions. Knowing there was no hard timeline on when it would be finished, she said questions are being raised about the dust, pointing to several news articles where Councillor Rod Zielinski in particular raised dust concerns as far back as 2023. With the project seemingly at a standstill, she asked when could the neighbourhood see some action on these concerns.
On what the city can do now, Redfearn said some of it is under provincial jurisdiction and municipal bylaws are taken only under advisement. The capping and mitigation is provincial, he said, but with that completed they have more flexibility as long as there are no permit requirements from the province. Dust concerns, however, are a daily occurrence, so they can address that at the city level faster.
The other big concern Starchuk was told was the future of the Columbia and Western Rail Trail, which runs through the property and past the pub, heading northwest to the mountains. That section of trail is gone, she said, so people want to know when they can get it back. Redfearn pointed out a previous council had moved on Nov. 8, 2021, they would look at a continuous trail path through the property during home construction rather than the five per cent park space allocation. The current council can look at that and consider it once a plan comes forward from the developers.
Mayor Baker said he is definitely in favour of facilitating a meeting, adding he’s met with the Koch brothers several times and is clear he wants to see more housing built in that area.
“Getting shovels in the ground can be an issue here as we have several developments happening, remembering this is private property,” said Baker. “This is a practical request and I know they are waiting on a transportation study by MODI. It’s been seven years since the start of this project and I’d like to see this done in my lifetime and I know the Kochs are committed to getting this done.”
Despite wanting to remain professional, Starchuk did admit this was affecting her emotionally and it was affecting her business. The dust is preventing her from repainting the exterior of the pub – pointing out it’s a historical building that used to be the Grand Forks rail station –
“As a business, we have negative customer experiences, health issues, operational and financial issues, brand image, business reputation and compliance with health code violations that are happening because of this dust,” she said. “I’ve been the business owner for four years, just had the roof done and I’m having a moral issue with painting knowing it will be sandblasted. I’m trying to protect the integrity and heritage of the building. I’m really begging you for help.”
During the regular meeting, Council voted in favour of the first three readings. The issue will be back for the June 23 meeting.
