Kamloops Lake Drive, where the addition and expansion took place.

Image Credit: Source: Google Maps

KAMLOOPS – The draftsman who designed a concept for a property expansion on Kamloops Lake Drive testified in Kamloops provincial court yesterday afternoon.

Scott Harwood is a Computer-Aided Design technician for the Northland Properties Corporation. He testified to explain his concept drawings for a property expansion in Savona, B.C.

Tom Gaglardi, his father Bob Gaglardi and their company Northland Properties all face charges of harmfully altering a fish habitat after their summer home property expansion was reported to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in 2011.

Tom is part owner of the Dallas Stars NHL team and the Kamloops Blazers.

The property, which includes several lots on Kamloops Lake Drive, has been in the Gaglardi family for years. The expansion to one of the lots involved removing vegetation, a substantial portion of an orchard, excavating and adding rip rap on site. Fisheries claim these elements individually and together compromised fish habitat.

After deciding not to proceed with his cross-examination of Tom Gaglardi, Crown prosecutor Digby Kier asked Harwood about his communications with site manager Jim Parks and the construction of a boat ramp on the property.

Harwood says the drawings he submitted to Parks were concepts, not a final plan. He says his drawings focussed on an addition to an existing house on site and included plans to widen the road behind the house.

Harwood says Parks moved forward without authority from Northland Properties and produced the preliminary plan which included errors.

Harwood said he did not know Parks would remove part of the orchard or the level of fill that would be included in the landscaping. Tom also alleges he did not know Parks would cut down the surrounding vegetation.

“It’s all Parks’ fault, is it?” Kier said.

“It would appear to be,” Harwood said.

While reviewing evidence, Kier noted the level of detail Harwood included in his concept drawings and asked him to examine photos of the site’s construction. Kier asked Harwood if cuts between two mounds of dirt on the property looked similar to a boat ramp.

Harwood said he didn’t know if it was a boat ramp or not.

“You’re not aware of what a boat ramp is?” Kier asked.

Harwood said he doesn’t go boating often as it’s not one of his hobbies. After Kier asked him what his hobbies were, he said “I play golf.”

Harwood says he’s never been to the property and his level of involvement remains solely as a draftsman.

Kier asked Harwood about a phone call he received from Parks. Harwood says Parks told him over the phone about fisheries’ involvement and said they were “going to jail.”

Kier then asked why Harwood sent Parks an email around ten minutes after their phone call requesting him to remove the Northland company logo from his designs.

“I don’t know what I was thinking... I almost shit my pants at my desk.”

The trial is set to continue on June 13. Both father and son Gaglardi have been excused from attending the next segment of their trial.

To contact a reporter for this story, email gbrothen@infotelnews.ca, or call 250-319-7494. To contact the editor, email mjones@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

News from © iNFOnews, 2014