METRO VANCOUVER -- A deal between Metro Vancouver and Kinder Morgan to allow limited access to two regional parks for site inspections on the controversial Trans Mountain pipeline is expected to trigger a round of protests against the expansion project similar to the one on Burnaby Mountain last fall.

Metro Vancouver said licence agreements had been concluded with Kinder Morgan, which would provide the pipeline company with limited access to 10 properties, including Surrey Bend and Coquitlam’s Colony Farm and five sites around the Coquitlam landfill, for “site inspections.”

“It allows them very limited access,” said Roger Quan, manager of Metro’s planning, policy and environment department. “It doesn’t indicate that Metro Vancouver is supporting the use of our lands for the proposed pipeline.”

The information was included in a Metro Vancouver briefing note, which was inadvertently posted to the regional district website before it was quickly pulled Monday. Metro spokesman Don Bradley said the briefing notes, which are typically sent to regional officials about negotiations, were posted in error and were pulled because the deal has not yet been ratified.

Metro, which has filed for intervener status with the National Energy Board, has not formally adopted a position on the pipeline expansion project and insists this deal does not constitute approval of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.

However, staff warns this likely won’t appease those opposed to the expanded pipeline project. While Kinder Morgan has not confirmed the final routing for the pipeline, the briefing notes proposed options would affect several Metro properties and rights of way.

“Once the licence agreements are ratified and Trans Mountain accesses the properties, there is a high likelihood of stakeholder inquiries and media interest,” the staff brief states. “Conflict in the form of public protest and civil disobedience are considered real possibilities.”

The licensing agreements, which still have to be finalized by staff and approved by the board, states Kinder Morgan would only be allowed to perform visual surveys and take measurements and photographs on the sites, and only while accompanied by Metro staff. The conditions also prohibit the use of vehicles or machines, while Metro can terminate the licenses with 24 hours notice.

Quan said the Metro Vancouver board hopes the strict conditions will help prevent protests similar to the ones on Burnaby Mountain last November, when hundreds of people demonstrated for two months after Kinder Morgan cut down several trees and prepared to do exploratory drilling on the site. More than 100 people were also arrested, but charges of civil contempt were thrown our after a B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled there were GPS errors in the injunction specifying the exact location of the no-go zone.

“There’s a great deal of public concern about the project,” Quan said. “We saw the demonstrations on Burnaby Mountain and the same thing could happen here. There’s concern in general around Metro Vancouver’s parks.”

Kinder Morgan had requested the licenses last summer, Quan said, as part of its investigations into different route options for the proposed $5.4-billion pipeline expansion, which involves twinning the existing pipeline running from Alberta to Burnaby and tripling its bitumen-carrying capacity.

The licenses, which are slated to expire in November, would mark the first time Metro Vancouver has provided Trans Mountain with formal access to regional lands.

Metro Vancouver noted that while many people have expressed concerns that Kinder Morgan has been granted access for a staging area in Colony Farm for assembling sections of pipe, the regional district has not received any request from the company nor has it consented to any use of its lands.

Meanwhile, the mayors of Vancouver, Burnaby, New Westminster, City of North Vancouver, Victoria, Squamish and Bowen Island will ask Metro Vancouver Friday to support a declaration calling for the federal government to put the pipeline proposal on hold until the National Energy Board addresses the significant deficiencies in its public hearing and review process.

At the same time, Metro Vancouver will host a delegation by Peter Watson, chairman of the National Energy Board, and Roger Girouard, assistant commissioner of the Canadian Coast Guard, who have been on a cross-country tour asking the public how NEB can adjust its approach to pipeline safety and environment protection.

ksinoski@vancouversun.com