Home buy out talks offered

May 16, 2008

A number of home owners living along the BC Hydro right-of-way in Tsawwassen slated for a power line upgrade will talk with the provincial government this summer about buying their properties.

Jack Bulloch, who lives on 53 A Street, said he received a letter from Energy Minister Richard Neufeld earlier this week regarding the government’s Home Purchase Offer Program (HPOP).

Neufeld wrote, “Government will be contacting you in the coming weeks to engage in consultations to further understand the level and extent of interest. We expect to complete consultations this summer with a final decision thereafter.”

Bulloch worries the consultations are a ploy to pacify residents while construction of the overhead lines takes place during the summer months.

Dan and Yvonne Bennett received the same letter this week. The Bennetts’ home is currently up for sale because they are concerned there will be health hazards associated with living under the new higher voltage overhead lines.

If their home does not sell by the time construction begins in June, Dan said they will enter into talks with the government with caution.

“One side of me says it’d be great if they actually honored a contract and the other side says I can’t trust them as far as I can throw them.”

In March Neufeld said in a press release the government “is willing to consider the option of purchasing homes of affected homeowners on the right-of-way if they desire.”

The power line upgrade is being undertaken by the B.C. Transmission Corporation to provide energy to residents on Vancouver Island and the southern Gulf Islands via an undersea cable extending from Tsawwassen Beach.

—Kristine Thiessen

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Home buy out talks offered

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