A B.C. Supreme Court judge has postponed a hearing into whether the B.C. government is justified in creating the Jumbo Mountain Resort municipality near Jumbo Glacier despite no people living in the area.
When Victoria created the municipality, in November 2012, it was seen as another step toward making the controversial, year-round Jumbo Glacier ski resort a reality.
The West Kootenay EcoSociety then filed a petition in B.C. Supreme Court and was ready to argue its case at a hearing February 23 but that hearing is now postponed, the society’s lawyer Jason Gratl told Business in Vancouver.
“We will be challenging the B.C. government’s decision to create a municipality, but not today,” he said. “We’ll be doing it in May for a couple days. It’s a very interesting case because the municipality has no residents. Municipalities are generally conceived of as a democratic representation tool for local governance. Absent residents, there are no mechanisms for accountability.”
When the B.C. government created the municipality, then-minister of community development Bill Bennett appointed former mayor of Radium Hot Springs Greg Deck as the community's first mayor and Nancy Hugunin and Steve Ostrander to be the community’s first councillors.
Jumbo’s developer, Glacier Resorts Ltd., last year built bridges and poured foundations for a day lodge, utility building and a ski lift. It is now awaiting for the B.C. government to determine that a "substantial start to construction" has taken place. If the government deems that Glacier Resorts has not substantially started construction, its environmental certificate will expire.
The B.C. government granted Glacier a permit, in March 2012, to build a destination resort that is projected to create 750 permanent jobs on traditional Ktunaxa Nation land. That aboriginal band opposes the development. Conversely, the Shuswap Nation has supported the project and has a impact management and benefits agreement with Glacier.
