2025
Caselaw Update
This paper examines five court decisions over the past year that are of particular interest to local governments: (i) a B.C. Supreme Court decision to strike down a Community Amenity Contribution Policy because it created a mandatory collection scheme unsupported by statutory authority; (ii) the B.C. Supreme Court’s finding that a local government's retention of a $6 million construction deposit related to a stalled development was not an unlawful penalty; (iii) the Court of Appeal’s finding that a local government was not liable for issuing building and occupancy permits to the holder of an easement without the land owner’s consent; (iv) a Court of Appeal decision that a Municipalities Enabling and Validating Act (MEVA) was unconstitutional because it ousted the adjudicative role of the court with respect to a particular development; and (v) a Court of Appeal decision confirming a local government’s broad discretion in the referral of cannabis retail store licence applications.
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