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
Princess Anne to take part in B.C. ceremony bringing new ship into Pacific fleet
Canada's first Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessel will officially be brought into the Pacific fleet today and Princess Anne, the sister of King Charles, is scheduled to take part in its commissioning ceremony.
NEW Biscuits with possible plastic pieces, metal found in ground pork: Here are the recalls for this week
Here are the latest recalls Canadians should watch out for, according to Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
More than half of Canadians say freedom of speech is under threat, new poll suggests
A new poll suggests a majority of Canadians feel their right to freedom of speech is in danger.
How falling for a stranger she met on a beach led this woman to ditch the U.S. for the French Riviera
Niki Benjamin, from the U.S., had travelled to a paradise island to do some soul searching, and her life ended up going in a very different direction when her dog ran up to a stranger.
Britney Spears 'home and safe' after paramedics responded to an incident at the Chateau Marmont, source tells CNN
A source close to singer Britney Spears tells CNN that the pop star is 'home and safe' after she had a 'major fight' with her boyfriend on Wednesday night at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.
Feds giving Toronto more than $104M to host 2026 FIFA World Cup
The federal government will provide Toronto just over $104 million in funding to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Police move in to clear NYU encampment, U.S. campus arrests grow to 2,200 in pro-Palestinian protests
Police moved in to clear an encampment at New York University on Friday at the request of school officials, a move that follows weeks of pro-Palestinian protests at college campuses nationwide that have resulted in nearly 2,200 arrests by police.
Wally, the emotional support alligator once denied entry to a baseball game, is missing
Emotional support animal registrations in the United States reached 115,832 last year, by an industry group’s count. But in the eyes of reptile rescuer Joie Henney, there’s only one: 'Wally Gator.'
Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.