Explosive property

Photo: Google Maps

A Vancouver company hoping to subdivide a huge parcel of land between Commonage and Bench Row roads expects its efforts to clear Second World War explosives from the site could last until 2017.

“It began in the spring of last year and is a two-and-a-half year project,” said Kevin Clarke, of Aquilini Development and Construction Inc. of Vancouver. “A company we have is clearing the land, with National Defence overseeing it.

“There is a history of all of those lands around the whole area being littered with explosives. It is a major issue with them dating back to the Second World War.”

Clarke said Okanagan Indian Band land has even more aging ordinance than the section his company is dealing with.

According to the Department of National Defence, the Commonage was set aside as a range and training area during the war.

The land was used by DND beginning in July 1941, although the department said it does not appear to have been used extensively. However, it admitted there have been several unexploded ordinance encounters in the area, including fatal incidents in 1948 and 1963.

A Maclean's magazine article earlier this week stated a 120-hectare portion of a former mortar range on OKIB land had been scanned by high-intensity metal detection equipment, showing about 10,000 marks.

Don Louis, the OKIB's liaison with DND, said thousands of pounds of munitions had been removed from one two-acre parcel. He said work to clear OKIB land would resume in March.

Meanwhile, Clarke refused to comment publicly on a local news report that Aquilini's company, K&L Land Partnership, had agreed to an $11-million legal settlement from the federal government over non disclosure of the ordinance issue when the Vernon land was purchased.

The firm has submitted an application to the City of Vernon to subdivide the property that Clarke said is almost 1,400 acres in size.

“The application proposes a bare land strata, 54-lot subdivision for single-family dwellings,” said Kim Flick, director of community infrastructure and development.

The application was distributed to utility companies, agencies and departments for review Jan. 5, Flick said, adding responses should be forthcoming within two weeks.