Decision Date: September 25, 2002

Panel: Alan Andison

Keywords: Water Act – ss. 23, 40(7); stay application

The Appellant applied for a stay pending the Board’s decision on the merits of his appeal of the Regional Manager’s order cancelling his conditional water licence, and ordering that he remove a dam on Martin Brook, on Gabriola Island.

The Board found that the Appellant established that he may suffer irreparable harm, in the form of potentially unrecoverable financial losses, if the stay was denied.

The Board further found that the harm to the Appellant outweighed the potential losses of the Third Party if the stay was granted. In particular, the Board found that granting a stay would lead to a continuance of flooding on the Third Party’s property, but that this flooding had been occurring since at least 1998. The Board also found there was no indication that the Appellant’s dam posed a safety or health risk to humans or the environment. Therefore, the Board found that the balance of convenience favoured granting the stay.

The application for a stay was granted.