Edmonton man has legal challenge over Valley Line LRT project thrown out of court, ordered to pay $4,000 to city, ATCO

A Mill Woods man who took legal action against the City of Edmonton and ATCO over his concerns about how the Valley Line LRT project was moving forward has had his case thrown out by a judge.

Chris Christianson said a judge tossed his application for an injunction to stop work on the project on Monday.

“They just said I didn’t have grounds, that they couldn’t deal with a human rights issue in court that our rights had been violated by the city and by ATCO,” he said.

Last month, the man took legal action after raising concerns over the city’s plan to relocate a gas line to accommodate the LRT expansion. Christianson, who lives near 35 Avenue and 65 Street, also voiced his opposition to having the tracks laid down on the east side of 66 Street. He says he would rather see the tracks moved to the street’s median.

READ MORE: Edmonton man seeks court injunction to stop work on Valley Line LRT project

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According to Christianson, dozens of other southeast Edmonton residents shared his concerns over those issues as well as what he called a lack of consultation or a plan to compensate residents for “damages, disturbance and nuisance.”

“It just seems like the city is not listening to any arguments,” he said Monday. “They said that we were properly notified and I don’t know what we’re going to do.”

“In 2011, a decision was made by city council on the alignment as approved,” Quinn Nicholson, a City of Edmonton spokesperson, said in October after Christianson filed for the injunction. “There was a public hearing that accompanied that, there have been other public hearings.”

According to Christianson, the judge has also ordered him to pay $4,000 in legal costs incurred by the City of Edmonton and ATCO as a result of the legal challenge. Christianson said he plans to pay but is not certain what his next move will be.

“I know there’s a lot of unhappy people,” he said. “We’ll have to have a meeting here and decide what direction we’re going to go.”