A West Vancouver homeowner took the witness stand in North Vancouver provincial court Friday to defend himself against charges of doing illegal landscaping work on his property.
Mohammadreza Morshedian and Seyedeh Janani stand accused of defying a municipal stopwork order and triggering a landslide that dumped sediment into fish-bearing Rodgers Creek in March 2013.
Morshedian and Janani are on trial before Judge Bryce Dyer facing more than 50 bylaw charges, including allegations they violated West Vancouver's water course protection bylaw, creeks bylaw, building bylaw and soil deposit and removal bylaw, among others. The couple have pled not guilty.
In court Friday, Morshedian told the judge that before beginning work on his Chelsea Close property, he discussed the matter with West Vancouver's land development technician Frank Schulz.
"He said there's no environmental concern. .. because the creeks are too far from the property," Morshedian testified.
A perusal of the district's regulations concerning soil deposits and landscaping gave Morshedian no cause to believe he needed a permit, he said.
After noting erosion on his property "from top to bottom," Morshedian set about removing between 50 and 60 tree trunks and roots in January 2013.
"My neighbour was very happy," Morshedian, said, describing fellow British Properties resident Fernando Casses as "appreciative" of his efforts.
Morshedian said the relationship began to sour after he rejected a proposal from Casses that would have involved some kind of property or subdivision deal between the neighbours.
Casses provided a different recollection of the relationship between the neighbours when he testified earlier in the trial.
After Morshedian informed his neighbour he'd be trucking in topsoil, Casses said he noticed the material was actually construction fill, including concrete, PVC pipe, buckets, boulders and clay. Casses testified pressure from the "mountain of dirt" caused buckling in his driveway.
Casses told the judge Morshedian was unresponsive to his concerns.
"In his mind, nothing that was happening was related to what he was doing," Casses testified.
On the stand Friday, Morshedian told the judge he was attentive to landslide risks.
After his contractor expressed concerns about the soil and the fence running between the two properties, Morshedian said he elected to build a retaining wall "just in case."
Instead of being pleased to see Morshedian taking precautions, Casses was angered and requested a sturdier wall, according to the defendant.
Morshedian's undertaking was overwhelming, according to Casses' spouse, neighbour Sam Schoenauer, who also testified earlier in the trial.
"Every time it would rain, there would be mud flowing on the side of our property," she said.
Morshedian received a stop-work order on Feb. 18, a little more than one month before the landslide.
Morshedian and Janani are accused of violating 56 West Vancouver bylaws and could face a maximum of $560,000 in fines if found guilty on all charges.
Besides bylaw violations, the couple could also be on the hook for the approximately $80,000 tab paid by the district to stabilize the slope following the landslide.
