There is a new court decision in the long-running dispute over a West Vancouver mansion that was damaged in a fire.
The house on Bellevue Avenue was damaged in 2015 and in 2021, the District of West Vancouver declared it to be a derelict structure and ordered the owner to have it demolished.
The owner instead had work done that she claims has remediated and repaired the house.
After a long legal battle, a Supreme Court justice has now ordered the owner to stop any unpermitted construction work, not to tamper with posted ‘Stop Work’ orders and to stop living on the property without a final occupancy approval from the District.
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“It just goes on and on,” Christopher Amer, a West Vancouver resident, told Global News.
“My first thought was, why don’t they just demolish it and sell the property, because at that time people would buy property for $12 million or whatever.”
Global News was unable to reach anyone at the home on Thursday.
The District said it was unable to comment on potential next steps, but says it remains committed to addressing these breaches via completion of the necessary remedial and demolition work in the public interest.
Why is the municipality deciding what can and cannot be done on someone’s private property?
“Why do they just not demolish it?” Why do you not mind your own business?
Supreme Court justice should be shamed of themselves for putting the rights of a few whiners, over the rights of the property owner.
Since when do we have to have an occupancy approval to live on our land? – that is a basic human right, not to be abused by courts.