In the fall of 2011 - PG City Council considered a request to rezone property at 5877 Leslie Rd and convert that property into a women's addiction treatment facility
Last Friday - BC Supreme Court Justice John Truscott ruled that PG Zoning Amendment Bylaw #8362,2011 was 'invalid' because it was inconsistent with the City of Prince Official Community Plan (OCP) Bylaw but had the OCP Bylaw been amended first prior to Bylaw #8362 then the zoning amendment bylaw would have upheld
The City of Prince George has announced today that it will not appeal the decision of Mr. Justice Truscott
The Prince George Citizen has done an editiorial on the whole situation including the following interesting comment...
If Truscott's ruling withstands the almost-inevitable appeal process, it will change the weight of OCPs (Official Community Plan) throughout B.C.
City councils which treat their OCPs as a list of friendly suggestions and guidelines, rather than as a legal framework for development, may be opening themselves to successful legal challenges.
As a result, some councils may choose to circumvent difficulties by gutting their OCPs of anything resembling a clear rule or guideline, so they can never be found to be opposition to them.
Of course, a local City Council who adopts a well-built OCP which sits on a great foundation of public input will, of course, never need to resort to 'gutting' an OCP unless they have political reasons for doing so...
Read the PG Citizen full editorial here
As well, you can read comment from PG City Councillor Brian Skakun here
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