Prince George, B.C. – The Supreme Court hearing on the Haldi Road case  has heard the residents’ side of the argument, and the City of Prince George will present its   case tomorrow.

 

Roy Stewart, the lawyer for Haldi Road residents, detailed the residents’ case to Justice Ron Tindale today.

 

The residents of Haldi Road, are calling on the court to quash an amendment to the Official Community Plan that would allow the development of a Recovery Centre for women in their rural residential neighbourhood.

 

Stewart walked the court through various documents that he argued were relevant to the court case, including correspondence between the City and L & M Engineering, minutes of Council meetings, transcripts of zoning bylaws and OCP regulations. In his brief, Stewart repeatedly pointed out that the city’s bylaw amendment remains inconsistent and incompatible in a number of ways with the OCP, including existing density regulation for the neighborhood (30 women and 10 staff will be involved in the Recovery Centre) and its designated rural lifestyle. He further argued the amendment creates an arbitrary planning policy and even an unnamed zoning category. To date, the city has not developed siting criteria for this unnamed category.

 

Speaking more generally, he argued that state power, including the local level of government, must fall within the law and a legislative framework, and be subject to judicial review. In that regard, he appeared to be reminding the court that a local government, such as the City of Prince George, can have zoning decisions set aside by a court of law.

 

He also noted the Haldi Road petitioners were looking for court costs that reflect the complicated legal arguments required to move the case forward.

 

This is the second time residents have taken their case against the City of Prince George to the Supreme Court of BC. In their first court case, the residents were successful and the rezoning of the Haldi Road property was struck down. That defeat prompted the City to make changes to the OCP and, once again, make an attempt to rezone the neighborhood.

 

Ray Young, lawyer for the city, will be presenting his rebuttal and arguments on Wednesday morning, beginning at 10am.