Developer Fined For Illegal Land Clearing

After years of litigation, a British Columbia land developer has been personally fined $20,000 for harmful alteration of fish habitat contrary to section 35 of the Fisheries Act. He illegally cleared land and damaged a sensitive fish bearing creek, in order to prepare the land for a subdivision. In addition, his company, Mission Western Developments Ltd., was fined $35,000, paid $58,540 to the Fraser Valley Conservancy for restoration costs, plus donated 1.75 acres of environmentally sensitive land to the Conservancy. They also incurred over $265,000 in legal expenses, as they fought the case every step of the way.

Illegal land clearing is a distressingly common offence, and one that rarely results in convictions. The total fine is still fairly trivial compared to the development value of the land, but better than such fines used to be.

R. v. Larsen, 2015 BCSC 1334, is the decision on the sentence appeal, the conviction appeal having been already dismissed.

The developer could have lawfully developed his 5 acre property in conformity with an approved environmental plan, but he chose not to follow the plan or the specific restrictive covenant protecting creekside vegetation. The clearing significantly damaged fish habitat by "cutting down of a number...