Jumbo Glacier Resort developer Glacier Resorts Ltd. has filed a notice of civil claim in the BC Supreme Court to seek an injunction to clear protestors who have set up camp on Farnham Creek Road.
The August 15 lawsuit that Glacier Resorts filed names Jane Doe, John Doe and persons unknown as being the defendants. It notes that they are representatives of a group named Citizens for Jumbo Wild, which is attempting to derail Glacier Resorts' work clearing a site for what would be B.C.'s only year-round ski resort.
Glacier Resorts seeks a permanent and interlocutory injunction requiring the protestors to stop blocking Farnham Creek Road, which Glacier Resorts needs to access to conduct soil sampling and other necessary work in connection with inspections and surveys.
The developer also seeks to have the court issue an order that police be authorized to arrest and remove any people who break the injunction.
Glacier Resorts' senior vice-president Grant Costello would not comment on the lawsuit when reached by Business in Vancouver August 19.
The B.C. government granted Glacier Resorts Ltd. a permit, in March 2012, to build a destination that is projected to create 750 permanent jobs on traditional Ktunaxa Nation land. That aboriginal band opposes the development.
Costello told BIV in April 2012 that he did not expect any brush to be cleared to make way for the project until the summer of 2013 at the earliest.
He said the company's environmental certificate has 195 conditions, some of which are pre-construction requirements.
"Before we build roads, we have to do archeological studies. Most of the commitments we have made [as part of getting the environmental certificate] are around First Nations interests. We will also conduct wildlife studies."
Because of the region's climate, Glacier would need to conduct archeological and other studies in a short summer window starting in June if the company were to start building roads the following summer.
