Residents win latest court battle with UBCO over easement road use

KELOWNA – It’s a setback in the courts for UBC-Okanagan in a five year legal battle to maintain a back-door access route to the Kelowna campus.

Some nearby property owners sued the institution in 2010, saying cyclists and pedestrians are trespassing as they use a private easement road that connects UBC-O to the Glenmore valley.

An earlier court ruling allowed some public use of the road but imposed strict limits on who was permitted to do so.

The university then put up signs outlining the restrictions.

But the residents went back to court arguing UBCO wasn’t doing enough to enforce the limitations and the judge agreed, noting the number of road users has increased and not decreased as anticipated.

Residents who monitored the road use say 506 people used it on three days in October 2013.

In his judgment, B.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson writes: “While the respondent (UBCO) has had ample opportunity to comply with the orders of Barrow J., I am prepared to accept that there has been a genuine disagreement between the parties as to the scope of those orders, and in particular, whether or not persons accessing buildings on the former Lot 6 could then travel elsewhere on the campus.”

The judge ordered effective February 16th, all public use of the easement road is suspended until the university takes sufficient steps to comply with the previous court ruling to limit the number of cyclists and pedestrians.