Truemors
City sued, but claims it has no obligation to comply with bylaws
JUDGE SAYS PROPERTY RIGHTS NOT GUARANTEED UNDER CANADA'S CONSTITUTION
In anticipation of the Olympian volume of dung that is expected to flow into the sewage system in 2010 the Greater Vancouver Regional District, and the Sewage People, decided in 2006 that it was time to replace the aging pipes at False Creek. Residents of the 1100-1200 block Beach Avenue woke up one morning in January 2007 to the noise and the earth-moving reverberations of a massive drilling operation across from their sweet homes.
Surely, they were entitled to two days of rest and the sanctity of breakfast and supper time, right? Wrong. The noise bylaw allows construction noise 6 days per week and from 7:30 in the morning until 20:00 hours in the evening. GVRD answered complaints by Dear John form letters courteously pointing out to the wording of the bylaw and the "legality" of the operation.
Well, thank God Vancouverites live in a country of law and order and it couldn't get any worse, right? After all, it could be healthy to get up at 5 o'clock in the morning when they move in the heavy equipment and trucks, and what's wrong with eating out at Vancouver's fine restaurants for a while? Wrong. Due to an act of God it rained in the winter and spring of 2007 and the drillers remained behind schedule. Has anybody ever heard of rain in Vancouver? Therefore His Worship, Mayor Sullivan of Vancouver, granted "an exception" to the bylaw in April 2007, extending the hours of the drilling operation to 10PM six days a week.
Wait a minute, it's not possible for politicians to break the law or bend it without due process and call it an exception, is it? This couldn't be possibly legal at what they call "The Best Place On Earth, could it? It could happen in Idi Amin's Uganda but surely not in Canada. When His Worship soon made another "exception" to the bylaw, however, to allow drilling around the clock some residents had had enough. Some decided to move out, but others had faith in the court system. An action was filed for damages at the BC Provincial Court against the City, GVRD and Mayor Sullivan.
All defendants claim that the action has no merit. The City stated in its defense that it has no obligation under the law to comply with its own bylaws. At the settlement conference in October the City's legal counsel grinned when the plaintiff asked if he lived under a Uganda style dictatorship. The judge commented that there are no guarantees under Canada's constitution for property rights. The City has filed a motion to dismiss the claim, and the hearing will take place on January 14 at the Provincial Court at 800 Robson Street in Vancouver.
Now comes the good part, Jaws II, The Vengeance.
When the drilling operation was closed mid-July, three months behind schedule, the residents had assumed that they had seen the last of it. Wrong again. It turns out that the work had not been completed, just temporarily closed for summer fun. According to Jack Maloney of Directional Mining how long it will take to complete will depend on how God behaves this winter. The drilling site has been reinstalled and made operational just in time for Christmas, presumably with the blessings of His Worship Mayor Sullivan.
Well, what can I say? Thank you mayor, you are, indisputably, one hell of a powerful guy and you certainly know how to make your subjects obedient, if not happy.
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