Summerland man accuses district of ‘playing dirty’ in lengthy mushroom farm dispute

A Summerland man lost his court challenge against the district, but said its announcement a month later serves to “mislead” residents.

The District of Summerland said the Besler family’s court battles and freedom of information requests have cost taxpayers more than $360,000 over six years with five active cases still in court.

In the community of roughly 12,000 people, that amount is the equivalent to a 3.6% tax increase for property owners, according to the district’s July 24 news release.

“The district issued a press release about me that intentionally left out some key details in order to mislead Summerland residents,” Brad Besler said in a written statement.

The Besler brothers have taken the district to court multiple times since their series of disputes began with the smell from the neighbour’s mushroom farm. The mushroom farm and a related zoning decision spurred what became their most recent court loss against the district more than a month ago.

Numerous court battles since have resulted in wins and losses for the Beslers, who have challenged not only the district, but BC prosecutors and their mushroom farming neighbour, too.

The most recent court case ended with Brad and his mother Vicki ordered to pay legal costs to the district because their challenge was “moot.”

They initially challenged a rezoning permit where council allowed neighbour What the Fungus to operate a 1.6 hectare campsite. Faced with “costly and unnecessary litigation” on taxpayer funds, council bypassed it by rescinding the permit and approving a bylaw specific to the mushroom farm property, the district said.

The decision rendered the lawsuit pointed directly at the permit effectively meaningless and the Beslers didn’t change their claim, the court found.

Brad said the district failed to mention how the judge left it open to him to argue the bylaw was passed in bad faith. Instead, the lawsuit was tossed on a technicality.

He has won multiple legal battles against the district, particularly for its violations of the Freedom of Information Act. In one case, Brad added, the court said he was entitled to costs from the district but he declined.

“Summerland residents need to understand that if the district acted in good faith, none of these legal actions would have happened. CAO Graham Statt is playing dirty to damage my reputation, but don’t let him fool you,” Brad said.