City, province, still in talks over Burnaby Lake dredging

Though the issue of endangered turtles in Burnaby Lake has been making plenty of headlines across the province in recent weeks, it garnered only a brief mention at Monday night's council meeting.

Mayor Derek Corrigan told council that negotiations are continuing between the city's department of engineering, led by Lambert Chu, and the province.

The long-awaited dredging of Burnaby Lake was put on hold just two days before it was set to begin last month because an application for a wildlife-salvaging permit was rejected by the Environment Ministry due to concerns about the Western painted turtle.
There are an estimated 100 of the endangered turtles in Burnaby Lake, which biologists are concerned could be killed if they are not located before the work begins.

 The city had a contractor in place to begin the multimillion-dollar project on Sept. 23 to remove 200,000 cubic metres of sediment, but so far no dredging has taken place. Corrigan told the NOW recently that it's costing the city $20,000 per day while the project is on hold.

At Monday's meeting, Corrigan said it was time to allow city staff and the province to work through the issues.

"I don't think we can usefully assist that tonight," he said. "At this point, we should let the negotiations continue."

There has been a war of words between Corrigan and the environment minister in recent weeks as the dredging debate has played out in media reports.

"I don't think it's doing the ministry or us any good," he said.

He said he was hoping to have an update on the project for councillors by the next meeting on Oct. 19.