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Ministry of Environment and other officials are concerned that an East Kelowna landowner has illegally dumped soil and gravel down the hillside above Mission Creek. (Photo Chris Stanford)
A case of material dumping above Mission Creek has drawn the attention of the City of Kelowna, the Regional District of Central Okanagan and the province’s Ministry of Environment.
Authorities were first alerted to the dumping by a user of Mission Creek Regional Park on Jan. 20. Piles of what appears to be soil and gravel have been pushed off a farm at 3562 East Kelowna Rd. and down a hill next to the creek by Hollywood Road.
“What it looks like at this point in time is… somebody was filling in an area on their farm and started filling what looks like a gully along the side, or at least it went down the gully and then, because the hill was steep, went all the way down the hill,” said Kelowna’s city manager, Ron Mattiussi.
The city issued a stop work order as soon as it found out about the dumping and is investigating not only the dumping but why the work on the farm was being done without the necessary permits.
The regional district is involved because the dumped material is on its parkland, while the Ministry of the Environment is looking into possible impacts on the creek.
“At this point we are still investigating but it appears the material isn’t posing any environmental hazard, either to the park or Mission Creek,” said regional district spokesman, Bruce Smith. “We’re just trying to figure out what it is and how it got there and then appropriate action will be taken as the investigation progresses.”
He added that once those responsible for the dumping are identified, they will be held responsible for the clean-up costs.
Who exactly is responsible for the dumping is not yet clear to investigators though the property at 3562 East Kelowna Rd. is owned by Maryann Fiske. A man who identified himself as her son-in-law said he would pass on our request for an interview but she later refused to comment and said we had “no right” to “trespass” on her property in an attempt to contact her.
adrian@kelowna.com
250-575-3517
2 Responses to “Authorities investigate dumping above Mission Creek”
Tags: city of kelowna, east kelowna road, illegal dumping, Kelowna, regional district of central okanagan
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Bulldozer rental from cousin Jed: $50 bucks and a case of Pil.
Pushing soil and gravel onto parkland and into a creek: Priceless.
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(what’s that? banjos echoing in the hills?!)
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