Highlands residents were out in a small show of protest Tuesday at the site of what is to be a rock quarry just off Millstream Road.
A group called Not OK is organizing protests every day this week against the OK Industries project.
The company recently cleared a legal hurdle allowing it to start site preparation for the project. The B.C. Supreme Court ruled the District of Highlands’ bylaws over activities on the quarry site do not apply as the activities, which include tree falling, soil removal, blasting and building, fall under provincial jurisdiction and the Mines Act.
However, OK Industries is still facing another date in court over the proposed quarry.
The Highlands District Community Association has filed an appeal of an earlier B.C. Supreme Court ruling that denied a judicial review of the province’s decision to approve a mining permit for the project. A date for the appeal has not yet been set.
In a Facebook post in support of the protest, the community association said it will refrain from any form of direct action while its appeal is pending.
“However, the HDCA understands and appreciates the democratic expression that citizen-led, peaceful, and safe, direct action represents,” the post reads.
The association noted that to date all of its letter writing, petitions, meetings with elected officials and court actions has been ineffective in drawing attention to what it called shortcomings in the BC Mines Act.
“Meanwhile, the [OK Industries] owners, who do not live in the Highlands, seem impervious to our concerns,” it said.
OK Industries bought the 64-acre property in 2015 for $4.2 million. The company initially applied to have it rezoned to accommodate commercial and light industrial activity from its green-belt designation.
When the District of Highlands rejected the proposal in 2016, OK applied to the province for a mines permit for a quarry. When that permit was granted in 2019 it triggered the community association’s application for a judicial review.
