Coquitlam pesticide bylaw stalls

By John Kurucz, Coquitlam Now

A new set of faces could vote on one of Coquitlam's most contentious issues in recent years.

Council voted unanimously to send the first version of the city's cosmetic pesticide bylaw back to staff and an advisory committee at Monday's engineering committee meeting, a decision that will likely prevent any further debate until after the Nov. 19 municipal elections.

Monday saw the first draft of the much-anticipated bylaw unveiled, though the issues of exemptions and bylaw fines proved to be sticking points that prevented the draft bylaw from moving forward.

"There's a part of me that says we're moving along," said Coun. Selina Robinson, who first brought up the issue of a pesticide ban in 2009. "We're not where we were in 2009 when this same council was not interested in having a community dialogue. At least we're having the conversation about how to do this."

The drafting of the bylaw was left in the hands of city staff and the sustainability and environmental advisory committee. Highlights of the proposed bylaw include a one-year grace period before its enforcement, a public education phase for residents and businesses, and a permit process that would allow "for the treatment of severe infestations that cannot be treated successfully by other means."

Coun. Neal Nicholson took issue with the permit process to treat severe infestations. He said he would have preferred to have seen clearer criteria set out as to what a severe infestation entails, while also ensuring that only qualified professionals would be able to classify and confirm those infestations.

"If I had an infestation in my lawn and I went to a pest control company and said, 'What can you do about this?' they would probably be prepared to write a report that would say that it's a dire situation," Nicholson said.

"Then I could take that to the city and ask for a permit, and then turn around to pay that pest control company to get rid of the problem - there's a lack of objectivity there. What I want is language right in the bylaw that makes it clear of just how bad it has to be."

Coun. Linda Reimer, who chairs the sustainability and environmental advisory committee, saw those exemptions as vital.

"Those are exemptions for pests that cause human and animal sickness, so in a dire situation like that, there has to be some route in which people can be authorized to use pesticides."

Coquitlam's debate comes as a number of other municipalities across B.C. and Canada tackle the same issue. To date, more than 170 cities and towns across Canada have passed partial or full bans on pesticide use, while 38 communities in B.C. alone have similar legislation - including Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Burnaby and New Westminster.

For his part, Mayor Richard Stewart was prepared to move the bylaw forward Monday. He acknowledged some of the problems others had around the table - specifically the permits for exemptions - but said most of those issues could have been overcome.

"We set up an advisory committee of experts with council's full approval so that we would ask the experts' advice as to how to do this," he said.

"The experts came back with some recommendations and we then rejected them because they didn't meet the preconceived notions of some. It's unfortunate and it's a horrible message to send to the really credentialled individuals that we managed to attract to that committee. I'm quite disappointed."

Though he couldn't confirm an exact date as to when the bylaw will return to council, city clerk Jay Gilbert estimated the discussions will take place in late December or sometime in the new year.

twitter.com/johnkurucz

jkurucz@thenownews.com