Two Anmore property owners are suing the village and a developer, claiming water run-off from a subdivision built 10 years ago has been flowing through their land.
In a statement of claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver late last month, Constance Bedard and Alyn Edwards state the drainage infrastructure has and continues to divert substantial amounts of water on to their properties, effectively creating a creek that didn't exist before. They're concerned that new watercourse will prevent them from being able to subdivide their own properties in the future.
"I don't know how the village of Anmore could have allowed this to happen," said Calvin Bedard, Constance's son. "I'm in the construction business and if we divert water in any way on to anyone's property, there would be hell to pay."
The Bedard property is at the corner of Sunnyside Road and Summerwood Lane. Water flows down both ends of Summerwood to a low point, where it has been directed through a culvert under and across the road into a large settlement pond on the Bedard's property. From there, a gushing creek flows down on to the Edwards property.
The claims have not been proven in court and no statement of defence has been filed yet.
Bedard said the family has no record of granting the developer, Kina Estates Inc., permission to divert the water on to his parents' property. The pond and creek are located in a forested area at the back of their property and nobody had been there in many years.
"When we were kids, the property was our playground," Bedard said. "There was never any streams, creeks or watercourses running through our property."
They discovered the watercourse earlier this year as they began cleaning up the property so that his mother could sell it.
Edwards, who has owned the raw land property since 1989, had no idea there was a creek running through it until he was notified by the Bedards in January.
"I'm absolutely shocked," Edwards said. "Nobody contacted me. I had no idea this was being done or would be done."
Edwards said that as a Belcarra resident with a creek on his property in that village, he knows well the ramifications of having a watercourse on his Anmore land should he consider subdividing it and wants to know where the permits are for the work that was done.
Both property owners say they're frustrated with the village's response to their concerns.
Bedard's parents lived in Anmore from the late 1940s, and raised their family in their Sunnyside home from the early ’50s.
"I am shocked at the way my mother is being treated by the village of Anmore," Bedard said. "She and my father paid their taxes every year without complaint. Seems to me they care more about developers than their seniors."
Edwards said they've been unable to get any meaningful response from the village and it was only after requests from their lawyer that the developer said he had permission from Willie Bedard to build the pond — though nobody has shown them the documents to prove it.
Even if that's the case, Edwards said, he never gave permission for a watercourse on his property.
Their lawsuit states that Anmore and the developer have refused to remove the drainage infrastructure, sediment pond or run-off stream.
They're asking for damages for the interference to their properties, trespass, nuisance and loss of or potential loss of profit on the resale value of their properties.
spayne@tricitynews.com
@spayneTC
