A real estate developer looking to develop land used as a pet cemetery in Surrey is striking back against a critic who has allegedly defamed the developer on different websites.
Turnberry Developments Ltd. and principal Lynn Weir are suing Kristin Adele Schumacher for a “campaign of defamation, harassment and interference with economic relations,” according to the plaintiffs’ notice of civil claim dated June 19.
The plaintiffs allege that Schumacher “spread misinformation and falsehoods concerning [the land’s] history, its lawful uses, the applicability and interpretation of provincial laws and municipal bylaws in relation to the property.”
She also allegedly spread the “false assertion that there are human remains on the property.”
Schumacher posted the alleged defamatory comments on the Change.org and GoFundMe.com websites, Turnberry said.
“What type of person could do this to individuals and families from all over B.C. and even as far south as Washington?" Schumacher allegedly asked in one of her posts.
“For someone to inflict this much pain on families, and to ignore the divine covenant of a tomb, well you can decide for yourself what type of person they must be,” the plaintiffs allege in their notice of civil claim that Schumacher wrote.
Schumacher allegedly called the land “sacred” and said it would be “desecrated” if it were developed.
“What joy could anyone take, disposing Millie, Scamp, Baby and Pooh Bear,” Turnberry alleges she wrote.
Weir allegedly suffered from sleeplessness, anxiety, fear for personal safety and stress as a result of the posts, she said in the lawsuit she jointly filed with her company.
The land in question is at 7777 – 147 A St. in Surrey, and, according to historical newspaper reports, it has been used as a pet cemetery since the early 1950s, when it was rural land.
Those reports said Burnaby residents Daniel and Nellie Blair operated a pet cemetery business on the site at the time.
Turnberry entered the picture in 1993, when it was known as 376258 B.C. Ltd., it said.
That was when it bought a five-acre parcel of land, it says in its lawsuit. Turnberry then subdivided that parcel of land and developed single-family homes, leaving the pet cemetery land undeveloped.
Turnberry said in its claim that in 1995, Surrey’s general manager of parks and recreation delivered a report to the mayor and council outlining the historic use of the land, and how it had “an unlicensed and unregulated private ‘pet cemetery.’”
The report noted that “the owner of the property could remove all headstones from the property and use the property for any purposes permitted under zoning.”
Turnberry alleges that it attempted to give the property to the City of Surrey but the city refused to accept the land to be used as a park.
Turnberry claims that the land is zoned for single-family homes and that it has been paying tax on the land.
“In 2023, the provincial government deemed the property ‘speculative and vacant’ and levied an additional property tax on Turnberry,” the developer alleged in its lawsuit.
The company claims that it conducted “pet-cemetary-specific due diligence to ensure that its development of the property was done lawfully.”
For example, it contacted the city’s heritage and cultural department to determine if it wished to obtain and preserve all or any of the pet grave markers on the property, it said.
The company conducted media interviews to alert the public of its intention to develop the property and to encourage people to contact Turnberry if they wished to come to the property and retrieve headstones, it said.
It also contacted Consumer Protection BC to confirm that because the property was never licensed as a place of internment, or a cemetery, Turnberry has no obligations under the Cremation, Internment and Funeral Services Act, it said.
Turnberry’s plan for the site is to subdivide it into three residential building lots, and it has applied to the City of Surrey for approval, it said.
Schumacher has yet to file a response to the notice of civil claim.
None of the allegations in the lawsuit has been proven in court.
