A BC Supreme Court judge granted the Regional District of Fraser–Fort George Regional District an injunction to force a Prince George man to clean-up his five-acre agricultural property.
On March 7, Justice Kenneth Ball found Thomas Stander broke regional district bylaws at 8570 Chilcotin Rd. by storing more than 100 cars, many of them undriveable, plus parts and other materials.
“The plaintiff had been seeking a solution to this problem with the defendant, and before him the defendant’s father, for a number of years without a positive response,” Ball wrote in his verdict. “There are clear breaches to both the Zoning Bylaw and the Unsightly Premises Bylaw.”
Ball said the Zoning Bylaw does not permit lands zoned for rural residential to be used as a vehicle storage yard or facility for unroadworthy vehicles.
Ball said bylaw enforcement officers inspected in 2019, twice in 2020 and again in 2022. On the latter visit, the bylaw officer observed at least 165 derelict vehicles and multiple piles of materials similar to those seen on the second and third inspections.
Ball said Stander’s affidavit characterized his activities as a hobby, not a business and that he claimed he was entitled to use his home as he sees fit.
“Many of the vehicles on the lands were surrounded by tall grass and covered in moss; and several piles of vehicle parts and other materials present on the lands, including: mufflers, tires, wheels, hubcaps, bumpers, vehicle doors, vehicle parts, wood and plastic pallets, metal tanks, scrap wood, tarps, barrels, snowmobile or jetski bodies, scrap metal and traffic cones.”
Ball, who heard the case on Oct. 10, gave Stander 90 days to remove any items that contravene the bylaws, including all mechanical or metal parts and motor vehicles in excess of 10. No more than two of the remaining vehicles may be derelict.
If Stander fails to meet the deadline, Ball authorized the regional district to enter the lands and remove the materials at the defendant’s cost. Stander and anyone associated with him must not hinder such a removal. The regional district may sell materials removed in order to pay for the removal, storage and sale of the vehicles.
