Pubdate: Thu, 26 Mar 2015
Source: Maple Ridge Times (CN BC)
Copyright: 2015 Lower Mainland Publishing Group Inc
Contact:  http://www.mrtimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1372
Author: Cole Wagner

HUNDREDS OPPOSE POT FARM

So many people showed up at Monday's public hearing in Whonnock, some
stood outside

It was a raucous crowd at the Whonnock Lake Centre Monday, as
concerned residents came out in droves to share their opinion on a
massive medical marijuana grow-op being constructed in their backyard.

Dan Sutton, managing director of Tantalus Labs, stood stoic and calm
as he listened to a host of reasons why his 96,000 square foot
facility was a bad fit for the rural Whonnock community.

Some of the complaints were met with applause, cheers, and jeers
directed towards Sutton. But when Klaus von Hardenberg took the mic,
the crowd's volume took a noticeable dip.

For the past ten years, von Hardenberg has been working with his wife,
Betty von Hardenberg, to have the Grant Hill aquifer offered a degree
of protection from the City of Maple Ridge.

The aquifer, which supplies water to Thornhill and Whonnock, is
classified as highly vulnerable by the province.

The Grant Hill aquifer is the groundwater resource which the Tantalus
Labs' facility will tap into, said von Hardenberg.

He warned that an industrial level drain on a sensitive aquifer could
have disastrous consequences for residents and the
environment.

"There is a huge issue with groundwater contamination, but we're
treating this aquifer like it's a cuisine and a dump at the same
time," von Hardenberg told The TIMES.

Sutton assured residents Monday night that a groundwater hydrology
study for the site was underway, and would be made public upon completion.

But even official City documents reveal doubts that site-specific
studies have the scope to understand the larger effects developments
can have on groundwater reservoirs.

Part of the Official Communtiy Plan document reads: "Development
reviews often focus on site-specifc issues, and may not take larger
eco-system based aspects into consideration."

Though 14 prerequisites for development on the Grant Hill aquifer
currently exist already in the Official Community Plan, von Hardenberg
said these protections are being bypassed by the Tantalus Labs
facility because it is developed on property deemed to be within the
Agricultural Land Reserve.

Though Sutton reassured members of the audience Monday that the Water
Protection Act would hold Tantalus responsible for any disruption or
contamination of neighbouring wells, von Hardenberg said that proving
one well caused another to dry up is an exceedingly difficult task.
"This is just in the wrong place," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Matt