VANCOUVER - A controversial ski resort proposed in southeastern British Columbia is facing a new challenge after the province's highest court ruled its environmental assessment certificate is invalid.
The B.C. Court of Appeal says the environment minister reasonably concluded that the provincial certificate expired after 10 years because work on the Jumbo Glacier Resort had not “substantially started.”
The certificate issued to Glacier in 2004 required that substantial work begin within five years, a deadline that was later extended to 10 years.
The court says construction was delayed by many factors including the closure of an access road and obstacles in obtaining municipal rezoning and a master development agreement with the province.
Glacier filed for a judicial review after the minister determined in 2015 that not enough work had begun for operations to continue under the same certificate.
The minister's decision was overturned by the B.C. Supreme Court but the Appeal Court has upheld a challenge of that decision.
