Storage shed or shipping container? B.C. Supreme Court settles long-running bylaw dispute
A long-running dispute over whether a structure on a Surrey property violates a city bylaw that prohibits shipping containers on residential lots has been settled by the B.C. Supreme Court
Justice Geoffrey Gomery's ruling was posted online Tuesday.
"This matter has been pending for a long time. It needs to be resolved," the judge said in the decision, which was handed down in February.
The City of Surrey was seeking an injunction that would order the structure to be removed. The city first asked the property owners, Praveen Kaur Koonar and Jaswinder Singh Koonar to remove the structure in April of 2022. After granting a series of extensions of the deadline for its removal, a petition was filed with the court in November of 2023, the judgment says.
A municipal bylaw, the court heard, explicitly states that shipping containers are only allowed in industrial zones with an exception for residential properties only in cases where one is "necessary and accessory to construction in progress and such construction is the subject of a current and valid building permit."
In court, the property owners conceded that no construction has been in progress on their property but argued that they should be allowed to keep the structure because it was actually a "storage shed."
Accordingly, the central question Gomery had to answer was whether the structure itself was prohibited by the bylaw.
"The structure that we are concerned with, is either a shipping container or it is not," he wrote.
In making his decision, the judge described photos of the structure.
"It looks like a shipping container. It has language on the side including the statement of caution 'nine foot six-inch-high container.' It has serial numbers, an indication of its cubic capacity, the weight of goods that it can hold, and so on. These are all consistent with the appearance of the thing as a shipping container," he wrote.
But he also noted that it has a door and windows, which the Koonars argued made it unusable as a shipping container. In addition, they argued that it was a shed because they were using it for storage and not for transporting goods.
Gomery disagreed.
"I think the submission is untenable. It would permit any shipping container to be placed on property and cease to become a shipping container as soon as it was used for some purposes other than the immediate shipment of goods and I cannot imagine that is what the bylaw intends," he wrote.
"Underlying the bylaw is the thought that shipping containers, by their appearance, not necessarily their use, are inconsistent with the residential character of homes in Surrey," Gomery's decision also said.
The city's request for an injunction was granted and the property owners were given 30 days to comply with the bylaw by removing the structure.
In a transcript of the exchange in court following the decision, Gomery explained to the Koonars what, precisely, the order means.
"The order does not prevent you from having a storage shed, but you cannot have a storage shed that is a shipping container. It will have to be some other kind of storage shed," he said.
The Koonars were also ordered to pay the City of Surrey $1,000 in costs.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Signs of Alzheimer’s were everywhere. Then his brain improved
Blood biomarkers of telltale signs of early Alzheimer’s disease in the brain of his patient, 55-year-old entrepreneur Simon Nicholls, had all but disappeared in a mere 14 months.
VIA Rail service delayed for hours due to suspicious package investigation in Kingston, Ont.
VIA Rail service resumed in the Kingston, Ont. area late Saturday afternoon, after a suspicious package investigation halted train service for more than four hours over the Victoria Day long weekend.
$500K-worth of elvers seized at Toronto airport
Fishery and border service officers seized more than 100 kilograms of unauthorized elvers at the Toronto Pearson International Airport on Wednesday.
Box tree moths have infested Ontario and experts say more are coming. Here's what to do to protect your garden
An invasive moth species is on the rise in Canada and, if you've planted a certain shrub, it could stand to ruin your garden.
His SUV was stolen on Montreal's South Shore. Then he got a $156 parking ticket
A couple is frustrated after their SUV was stolen from Montreal's South Shore in March and they received a parking ticket for the same vehicle last week.
Banking mogul suing government after intelligence leaks leave him shut out of Canadian economy
Chinese Canadian banking mogul Shenglin Xian has launched a $300 million lawsuit against the federal government. It’s a means to find the source of intelligence leaks which Xian says has cost him his livelihood.
Conservatives, NDP should be 'celebrating' EV deals: industry minister
Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne says federal opposition parties should be 'celebrating' the recently announced electric vehicle deals, despite their criticisms the Liberals refuse to make public the terms and conditions laid out in the contracts.
Jesus is their saviour, Trump is their candidate. Ex-president's backers say he shares faith, values
As Donald Trump increasingly infuses his campaign with Christian trappings while coasting to a third Republican presidential nomination, his support is as strong as ever among evangelicals and other conservative Christians.
Woman with liver failure rejected for a transplant after medical review highlights alcohol use
For nearly three months, Amanda Huska has been in an Ontario hospital, part of it on life support, because of severe liver failure. Her history of alcohol use is getting in the way of her only potential treatment: a liver transplant.