Instrument landing lights planned for a small piece of easement property used by Nanaimo Airport can be installed following a court challenge. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Ian Holmes

case dismissed

Berry farmers fail to dim Nanaimo Airport lighting expansion

Nov 14, 2024 | 5:29 AM

NANAIMO — A B.C. Supreme Court justice swiftly dismissed an application by property owners adjacent to Nanaimo Airport requesting the cancellation of an easement to a small portion of property.

In a judgment published online this week following a mid-October judgment in Vancouver, the petitioners who’ve owned Haslam Creek Berry Farm since 2011 contested access by Nanaimo Airport Commission (NAC) to the easement to install and maintain navigational runway lighting.

NAC wants to proceed with the installing a pair of new navigational lights off the north end of the runway as part of replacing older lights to comply with pending enhanced Transport Canada requirements.

“The Petitioners informed the NAC that they are opposed to the installation of the two navigational lights on the property. The Petitioners are concerned that the lights will negatively impact the Petitioners’ ability to grow organic crops, as well as the aesthetics of the Haslam Creek Berry Farm,” the ruling from justice Jan Brongers stated.

Enhanced Nanaimo Airport runway lighting included a pair of pending lights contested by the owners of adjacent Haslam Creek Berry Farm. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

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Argued in court as “obsolete”, the self-represented petitioners challenged the validity and need for the easement, which the judgment stated was brokered between NAC and the farm’s prior owner and established in perpetuity in 2007.

“I am persuaded by the NAC’s evidence that the Easement provides a practical benefit not just to the Nanaimo Airport, but also to the surrounding community in terms of its function as an important component of the area’s transportation infrastructure,” the judgement read.

As part of the decision the judge ordered the petitioners pay NAC’s costs associated with responding to the litigation.

New navigational lighting at Nanaimo Airport is part of a host of near and envisioned long-term investments at the Cassidy property north of Ladysmith.

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Ian.holmes@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes

Instrument landing lights planned for a small piece of easement property used by Nanaimo Airport can be installed following a court challenge. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)