Court orders Ground X to temporarily cease Kingsway operations

After being hit with 56 tickets for operating without business licences, a waste removal company is temporarily barred from operating on four Kingsway Avenue properties, following a recent B.C. Supreme Court decision.

Port Coquitlam asked the court for a provisional order stopping Ground X from depositing and removing soil, discharging substances into ditches and altering land without a permit after city staffers reported seeing contaminated water around the site.

Ground X disputed the charges, contending the city failed to establish a clear breach of its bylaws and permit requirements.

The company leased four properties between 720 and 859 Kingsway Avenue. The parcel is separated by a dike and adjacent to the Kingsway Ditch, which drains into Pitt River.

To be granted an interlocutory injunction, Port Coquitlam needed to demonstrate a “good arguable case,” according to the judgment.

Ground X argued the city failed on that score, as their evidence included: “hearsay, staled dated evidence and evidence that is not relevant.”

However, some of Ground X’s arguments didn’t persuade Justice Sharon Matthews.

City bylaws don’t allow soil to be deposited. Ground X argued it wasn’t depositing the soil. Instead, the company put the soil on 750 Kingsway for processing, rather than stockpiling or storing.

The company also argued it didn’t need a permit because it’s depositing soil: “for a very short period of time and removing the same soil in the same quantities without altering the land.”

The argument is “not compelling,” Matthews wrote, noting there is no type of soil that can be removed in the city without a permit.

Putting soil on the property is still “arguably depositing soil,” according to city bylaws, Matthews wrote.

Permits

The city’s bylaw also stipulate that soil can’t be removed or deposited without a permit.

“There is no debate that Ground X does not have a permit,” Matthews wrote.

The city sent 40 notices of contravention to the company, according to the judgment. Port Coquitlam also issued 56 notices to Ground X about operating with business licences.

Ground X unsuccessfully disputed each notice.

The company didn’t apply for a business licence until it had been operating for six months, according to the judgment.

“It has continued to operate notwithstanding the refusals and multiple infraction notices,” Matthews wrote, adding there is “ample evidence” the company has been in continuous breach of city bylaw for three of the Kingsway properties

Ground X responded that Port Coquitlam “unreasonably denied” the company a business licence despite a diligent effort to comply with city requirements.

The land

Ground X imports soil, hydrovac liquid waste and asphalt, which it places on 750 Kingsway, “and which have encroached onto the dike.” The company processes the material, sells and removes them, according to the company’s evidence.

The company created settling ponds at 750 Kingsway by pumping a slurry of soils and water into a pit where the soils settle and the water can eventually be treated.

The company also created a trench between settling ponds.

Richard Lubarski, a director of Ground X, said he knows nothing about the trench.

“I consider this to be a bare denial that does not raise an arguable factual defence,” Matthews wrote.

Environmental concerns

The Ministry of Environment previously issued the company a pollution abatement order regarding hydrovac waste discharge.

That order: “includes allegations of contamination,” Matthews wrote.

Ground X disputed any of its deposits are contaminated or have caused contamination.

Port Coquitlam bylaw enforcement officer Kerrie Gaudette told the court she saw “dump trucks depositing concrete rubble and effluent” in May 2024.

Scott Walmsley, the city’s environmental coordinator, reported seeing a sheen on the water, turbidity, “and a brown contaminant layer,” in April 2022.

Gaudette also described “contaminated water” flowing from 750 Kingsway to the Kingsway Ditch,” which appeared to have an oil slick on it in January 2024.

The city produced samples indicating pollution. However, there were problems with the way those samples were collected and stored, Matthews wrote.

“if pollution to the Kingsway Ditch and the Pitt River are coming from the Kingsway Properties, that does not necessarily mean that Ground X’s operations are the cause of that pollution,” Matthews concluded.

Landlord cleared

Port Coquitlam asserted that, as the owner of the properties in question, Bath Properties is “liable for the wrongs of its tenant,” according to the judgment.

On that matter, the city’s position does not have “legal or factual foundations,” Matthews concluded.

Judgment

Ground X is not permitted to deposit or remove soil from 750 and 720 Kingsway or from city lands. The company also can’t alter the land, deposit hydrovac waste, or operate on any of the Kingsway Properties for which the company doesn’t have a business licence, Matthews concluded.