The Sumas Mountain Rural Property Owners Association has obtained copies of emails between Abbotsford staff and Metro Vancouver which reveal an alarming attempt to undermine the interests of landowners up here on Sumas Mountain.

The emails were between Tanya Bettles (environmental coordinator for the City of Abbotsford) and representatives of Metro Vancouver.

The first email was from David Sheffield (an employee of Metro Vancouver) to Tanya, admitting that Metro Vancouver was planning to use information contained within the Sumas Mountain Environmental Management Plan (SMEMP) to help them make "decisions on future acquisitions". See the email here.

Here's why this is important:

• First, the SMEMP envisions turning large portions of Sumas Mountain into a nature preserve, by imposing wildlife corridors and "zero disturbance zones" on peoples' private properties.
  
  
• Second, the effect of the SMEMP on peoples' property values would be disastrous. Dozens (and possibly hundreds) of parcels on Sumas Mountain would suffer severe encumbrances.
  
  
• Third, this would inevitably lead some of the battered landowners to sell under distressed circumstances, resulting in "bargain basement" real estate prices.
  
  
• Fourth, even at "bargain basement" prices, who would ever buy a parcel of land which has been down-zoned to "zero disturbance" status? Answer: no one, except perhaps Metro Vancouver.

It turns out Metro Vancouver has been keenly interested in the SMEMP since day one. And with good reason...

Metro Vancouver has been actively acquiring land on Sumas Mountain, including several hundred acres which it obtained from the City of Abbotsford for the grand sum of $1. It is now one of the largest landholders up here. Metro Vancouver has gone on record as saying it wants to acquire more land on the mountain. But why should it pay top dollar?

The SMEMP is the ultimate way to perpetually depress property values --- and thereby acquire land on the cheap. So wasn't it a clear conflict of interest for Abbotsford to include Metro Vancouver in the process of drafting the SMEMP? We think so, but it gets worse...

The second email we obtained was from Tanya Bettles to Metro Vancouver, advising them that she had met with some Sumas Mountain landowners who "were very upset to hear about the SMEMP as they view it to be a severe encumbrance on their land." So what did Tanya do? "I told them that they might want to talk to MVRD to see if you were interested in purchasing it. I gave them your contact info, so just wanted to give you a heads up that they'll be calling." See the email here.

Metro Vancouver couldn't have asked for a better real estate agent.

The fact is, this isn't the first time something like this has happened. Several weeks ago we obtained another damaging email between Tanya Bettles and an outside "special interest group" --- the Nature Trust of BC. In the email, "inside information" was being requested on Sumas Mountain property owners, their land parcels, sizes, and additional details --- for the purposes of potentially adding them to the Trust's land portfolio wish-list. See the document here.

Tanya Bettles is the staffer responsible for crafting a large portion of the SMEMP, which had its genesis back in 2010 when the City of Abbotsford carried out its biophysical inventory of Sumas Mountain. Cloaked under scientific-sounding phrases like biodiversity, species-at-risk, and watercourse-mapping, the real purpose seems to have been the covert collection of environmental data which would ultimately be used to turn us all into "willing sellers".

We have to ask the question: "Isn't it illegal for municipalities to down-zone someone in order to acquire their land at a below-market price?" If the answer is "Yes" then doesn't it stand to reason that it is also therefore illegal for two municipalities to work together in-concert to effect same?

When we saw the email between Tanya Bettles and the Nature Trust, we were hoping it was just a case of naive incompetence. But now, in light of the emails with Metro Vancouver and the clear coordination which has taken place between City staff and the MVRD resulting in the undermining of the property values of Sumas Mountain landowners, we've got to call it like it is: the environmental staff at City Hall has acted in a manner which can only be described as outrageous and gives every appearance of being a significant conflict of interest and a breach of the public trust.

As the directors of the Sumas Mountain Rural Property Owners Association, we are actively calling for:

i) an immediate inquiry by the Mayor into the Sumas Mountain Environmental Management Plan and the extent to which outside parties who clearly had a conflict-of-interest were involved in the process of drafting it.

ii) a full investigation into the communications of Tanya Bettles and all staff involved in the development of the SMEMP to determine the extent to which the public trust may have been compromised or breached.

iii) an audit of all dealings between the City of Abbotsford and Metro Vancouver involving lands on Sumas Mountain to investigate possible breaches of fiduciary duty.

We are committed to protecting and promoting the property rights of citizens who reside on Sumas Mountain, but we need your help. Stand with us now by joining the Sumas Mountain Rural Property Owners Assocation.