West Kootenay landowner seeks truthful land-use compensation from energy firms

A West Kootenay property proprietor is looking for truthful compensation for landowners throughout the province.

Pend d’Oreille resident Jim Urquhart is placing out the decision to B.C. landowners who’ve electrical transmission line right-of-ways on their personal property, to come back collectively and focus on what the federal government and civil society have decided constitutes truthful, owed land-use compensation.

“It’s time the utilities in B.C. paid the identical land-use compensation that the opposite power producers in B.C. and Alberta that place above floor buildings on personal property contemplate truthful,” mentioned Urquhart. “If landowners in B.C. are ever to get truthful, owed land-use compensation they must come collectively.”

Urquhart says that landowners are excluded from authorities funded advocacy places of work out there to different landowners in B.C. and Alberta dealing with related circumstances.

“The issue is the framework that the B.C. utilities use to determine their compensation cost is predicated on a land worth and there’s no correlation between a land worth and the entire impression worth for which landowners are owed.”

BC Hydro spokesperson, Mary-Ann Coules, confirmed that almost all of Statutory Proper-of-Means (ROW) agreements are granted in perpetuity and are registered with the BC Land Title and Survey Authority.

“A ROW settlement is binding for the present and all future house owners of that property,” Coules advised the Path Occasions. “Acquisition of those rights is mostly made by way of mutually agreed upon phrases, and property house owners are usually supplied with a one-time lump sum cost on the time of the acquisition as compensation for these ongoing rights, which permits us to assemble, function, and keep our infrastructure on the property.”

Urquhart has been in search of solutions, sending letters and making inquiries to the B.C. authorities and energy firms for greater than 10 years.

In June, he organized a gathering with a few dozen West Kootenay landowners with ROW agreements and three native utility officers.

A number of landowners agreed to place up indicators on their property that learn partly: “The land proprietor is requesting that staff or contractors of {the electrical} utilities keep off this personal property till truthful, owed land use compensation is paid.”

The Occasions contacted the previous Minister of Forests, West Kootenay MLA Katrine Conroy, asking in regards to the ROW agreements, and extra particularly, if these circumstances may very well be revisited to replicate present and future impacts, utilities’ earnings and price will increase, and adjustments in land values?

The Ministry of Forests didn’t reply to the questions, however mentioned in an announcement: “Statutory Proper-of-Means agreements are between the utility supplier and the property proprietor.”

BC Hydro confirmed that the agreements are primarily based on truthful market worth of the property on the time of buy.

“That is much like granting a driveway easement to your neighbour for entry to their property,” mentioned Coules. “The neighbour would have negotiated compensation to have entry in perpetuity and the landowner would have accepted the compensation.

“The landowner wouldn’t be entitled to hunt future compensation from the neighbour or any future proprietor of the neighbouring property for this easement.”

This, in response to Urquhart, is a “false equivalency” and has to alter.

An settlement for an easement reminiscent of an entry street is way totally different than the huge buildings occupying acres of land on privately owned property.

“Over the estimated lifespan of a transmission line, a rural B.C. landowner could solely get about two per cent of the land use compensation in comparison with what all different power producers in B.C. and Alberta that place above floor buildings on personal property contemplate truthful,” mentioned Urquhart. “This contains what the transmission line firms in Alberta compensate.”

For Urquhart and the landowners who posted indicators, it’s a solution to invoke their property rights by protesting the ROW agreements, elevate advocacy consciousness, and promote a extra versatile and equitable contract.

Urquhart says it’s the landowner’s hope that authorities and utilities will cooperate — in spite of everything, the utilities have had a great run. He asks landowners throughout the province to demand truthful, owed land-use compensation.

“Vital change is coming,” he mentioned.

“It’s time landowners have been handled pretty.”

You probably have a transmission line in your property and share these issues name Jim Urquhart at 250.367.7658.

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