While developing contaminated land can be complex and unpredictable, with the right knowledge and armed with appropriate guidance and expertise, it also presents an immense opportunity for profit and community enhancement.. We have offered our recent Developer Lesson series to demonstrate that, while environmental development issues can be complicated, they can also be solved with ...
Let’s face it, contaminated sites remediation requires courage. Cleanup can be expensive, and the regulations are not bedtime reading. Developers want to avoid missteps, minimize exposure to claims by others, and maximize potential recovery of their costs of remediation against polluters. They will therefore often lean on lawyers with environmental expertise to guide them through ...
Property developers in BC move dirt – some clean and some not so much. Soil relocation rules are changing in BC. The old ‘soil relocation agreements’ will go away, and the movement of contaminated soil (and now clean soil, too) will be governed by new soil testing and notification requirements, along with penalties for failing ...
Cooperating with regulators is key but making sure you are being treated fairly is why you hire a lawyer. Mutual respect means fair treatment, and it must go both ways. While the regulatory framework surrounding contaminated site development is complex, that doesn’t mean it should produce difficult professional relationships. Respect and understanding are necessary when ...
Certificates of Compliance. Everyone wants one, but not everyone ‘gets’ them. They have the same name, but they are not all the same. Unless you really understand the conditions and limitations of a Certificate of Compliance, you can’t know what you are getting (or what a seller or neighbour say they have). The type of ...
When your lawyer and your construction team work together, things work out better for everyone. No one knows everything – but when legal experts and construction experts work together, your project will encounter fewer bumps in the road. Consider this example: Parking underground is a must in most developments. How many levels and how deep ...
Did you know you can buy polluted land and pursue the polluter for your clean-up costs? It’s true. That is the way BC law works. If you clean up polluted land, you have the right to pursue not only the polluter or polluters, but potentially others as well, for the costs you reasonably incur to ...
Every site has a past – and not all are good. One of the tricks to good due diligence is to get an early handle on the historic uses of the site. There are many past uses that can present hidden liability. For example, was there a dry cleaner on-site or even in the neighbourhood? ...
Just because your company has environmental insurance, doesn’t necessarily mean that ‘you’ do. Are you a director or officer of a company that buys or develops land? Well, you are not the company, and the law is different for you. If the company attracts liability, you can be on the hook separately, personally, and for ...
While the process is far from simple, there is money to be made in the purchase of polluted land. Contaminated sites are often offered at a discount, after all. That spells opportunity. But unseen, unexpected costs can eat into your profits. Groundwater, for example, may be the site’s real problem, and it may have moved ...
