The deadly landslide began below the reservoir, high above Lions Bay
The licence holder of a small reservoir located above last month’s deadly Lions Bay debris flow says he spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on slide prevention, engineering and remediation.
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Vestergaard provided documentation to Postmedia showing work ordered by the province to reduce slope failure risks was signed off by a professional geoscientist as “satisfactorily completed” in 2015.
In a written statement, Vestergaard said provincial engineers told him the Dec. 14, 2024, slide was determined to be a result of natural causes.
B.C. Ministry of Water, Lands and Resource Stewardship officials did not respond Monday to questions about Vestergaard’s statement.
Vestergaard says he received a letter dated Dec. 20, 2024, with a provincial file number “after the source of the slide was determined to be of natural causes.” That letter, he said, stated there was a visit on Dec. 18 that determined the dam was intact and retained its reservoir, and the source of the slide was below the reservoir.
Vestergaard would not provide a copy of the letter to Postmedia, but supplied an excerpt he said was from the letter that stated the debris flow originated on a scarp, or steep slope, in natural ground and it did not extend up into the dam fill of the reservoir.
The excerpt Vestergaard said was from the letter also stated: “It is possible that the scarp may retrogress and destabilize the dam fill.”
Vestergaard said the provincial government found that his responsibility was limited to hiring a geotechnical engineer to determine whether the slide affected the future stability of his reservoir.
Vestergaard said the existence of his reservoir may have prevented the slide from being worse.
“I spent $400,000 engineering the safety of the creek to prevent slides with no improvement to my access or water which was already in place. In fact, I had to remove some of my access for highway safety. I received no benefit other than sign off on an existing licence,” said Vestergaard.
“I had been working with slide engineers since 2015 (nine years to date) and I was aware of the risks and was trying to mitigate them as my neighbours were my friends,” he added.
While there is an RCMP investigation underway into the cause of the slide, no allegations of wrongdoing have been levied by the police, the province or other jurisdictions, including against Vestergaard. Squamish RCMP Const. Kelly Wu said Monday the investigation continues.
Development was started on Vestergaard’s private property, high above Lions Bay, more than a decade ago, and included creating an access road and the water reservoir, meant to supply water to his property.
No home has been built on the property.
Just below the reservoir, where the steep slope begins, is the highest point of a debris flow that on the morning of Dec. 14 gathered rocks, trees and other materials, cascading downslope about 750 metres.
Vestergaard provided Postmedia a 2015 report which is a sign-off from professional geoscientist Pierre Friele on a pullback of the Battani Creek reservoir’s fill slope “to reduce the risk to downslope resources,” work which was required by the province
Fill slopes are created from the construction of roads above the original ground level.
The nine-page report from Friele’s company, Cordilleran Geoscience, says the work was carried out in the fall of 2014 and was “satisfactorily completed.”
Friele, who was in the field, could not be contacted on Monday.
The work included the removal of about 40 dump truck loads of soil, including stumps and logs.
The report says bedrock was encountered at two locations part way down the fill, and the reconstructed fill slope had been keyed into the rock where encountered.
The report also noted the fill slope had been subjected to several severe storms in 2014 and 2015, but held firm and had not suffered any appreciable erosion.
In his written statement, Vestergaard said following the work to the reservoir he now has a permanent water licence and is governed by a management plan he follows.
Another document provided by Vestergaard outlined a July 2015 management plan meant to assist him to get long-term vehicle access to his property and the reservoir on Crown land, as well as a mitigation blueprint for “existing” geotechnical hazards with certain sections of roadways and the reservoir.
The plan by JCH Forestry Ltd. included a requirement for continuing road inspections, routine maintenance and other upgrades to be carried out periodically and following major rain events, which Vestergaard, in his written statement, said he followed.
Vestergaard said he also was granted easements by the province to build a “driveway” to his private property.
There is a marketing document Vestergaard produced touting a multi-home development on his private land called Lions Point Elite, but Vestergaard says he is not a developer and there is no planned development. He says the document was only for appraisal purposes and borrowing.