A major section of sea dike along phase two of the Skye development downtown was breached Tuesday evening (May 15) after a district floodgate was open during high tide.
Water from the Howe Sound poured into the area and broke through the dike at the western edge of the site, leaving as much five feet of water resting on the development. The water came in with so much force that a large stack of lumber that was resting near the breach was carried 250 metres through the site, around a concrete retention wall into a pond at the eastern side of the development. No one was working at the site when the water poured in.
Fred Kaeble, assistant site supervisor for Skye, said he was baffled by the action.
"There's absolutely no way, no reason, that floodgate should have been opened," said Kaeble. "The only time you ever open that gate is to let water out and not at high tide."
To make matters worse, when site management was made aware of the situation at approximately 7:30 p.m., workers attempted to turn on a pump near the floodgate to remove some of the water, but were unsuccessful.
"When they switched it on, the whole cable started arcing," said Kaeble. "The cable had been cut through with a power tool. When I looked at the cable, you could see the watermark and see it was cut at low tide. The only explanation is sabotage."
However according to Mick Gottardi, community development director for the district, the floodgate was opened as part of standard operating procedure, and district staff have no knowledge of the cut cable.
"As I understand it, the gate was opened at 1 p.m.," said Gottardi "The floodgate was opened because it is standardly opened in the spring and left open all summer long.
"The water helps to flush out the estuary, which is natural. This also allows for the free flow of fish."
Contrary to Kaeble's assertion that district staff said it was DFO's decision, the department of Fisheries and Oceans employees say they did not tell the district to open the gate.
According to DFO staff, the floodgate would not have to be opened at this time of year to assist fish stocks.
"It wouldn't be a requirement from us," said DFO officer Brian Naito, who said he was unaware that the district was planning to open the gate. "It would be up to the district to open that. I would just want to make sure if it was being opened that there would be no impact on fish populations."
Rob Bell-Irving, community advisor for DFO in Squamish, speculated on the alleged district assertions.
"Sometimes people will just say that fisheries did that, when we actually had no involvement," he said.
Gottardi said he wasn't aware of conversations invoking the DFO. He contended that the dike breached because it is just a temporary structure -a structure approved by the district last fall in contravention of provincial regulation. The water was able to find a weak point and punch through it, said Gottardi.
Kaeble said he wasn't satisfied with the explanation.
"The height that it's at, it would have breached if it was made out of concrete," said Kaeble. "If it was a plan, why didn't they bother telling us, and say 'hey we're doing this.'"
Meanwhile, as the Skye site was flooding, representatives of Seabright Holdings, the development company behind the Skye project, were in council chambers as the district passed a motion to amend the Official Community Plan, changing the zoning to allow for the phase two site. The motion will make way for a building permit to be issued for work to continue at the site.
Two weeks ago the district issued a stop-work order to Skye because the required building permits were not yet in place.
