Legal Opinion on CRC Subdivision Application

Grounds for rejection

July 30, 2009

There have been numerous statements over the past few months suggesting that the owners of CRC have the “legal right” to a 58-lot subdivision at Cape Roger Curtis. None of these statements can be attributed to a person with knowledge of municipal law, and appear to be simply a strategy to gain support for the CRC development. We now have a legal opinion on the matter.

Through a coalition of two Bowen organizations, the Bowen Island Eco-Alliance and the CRC Trust Society, a group of concerned citizens has come together to seek legal information about the subdivision process, specifically as it relates to CRC and the subdivision application that has been submitted by its owners. We have, through our own internal resources, retained the services of Don Lidstone, Q.C. who is considered by many to be one of the preeminent municipal lawyers in BC. (His biography is available online.) Mr. Lidstone has created a review of the subdivision application, which you can download as a PDF.

Mr. Lidstone’s review leads to some significant conclusions:

1. There are good grounds for the rejection of the most recent subdivision application relating to the CRC lands, arising from the application itself and from the applicable law.
2. If the approving officer does not reject the application, then opponents of this particular application would have good grounds on which to challenge his decision in court.

We think it is important for accurate legal information to be publicly available and we are are hoping that you will agree. We would appreciate it if you could draw other people’s attention to this as soon as possible.