Comox Valley Record, December 8

The lawyers have had their say — and all that can be done now is wait for the judge’s response.

The legal challenge launched by the Sierra Club of Canada against the Comox Valley Regional District over a development permit for the Gas and Go station proposed for Dyke Road was heard in B.C. Supreme Court last week.

“It worked out the way it’s supposed to — now it’s up to the judge,” said Mike Bell, chair of the Sierra Club Comox Valley.

The Courtenay River Estuary Action Committee, a vocal opponent to the Gas and Go project, became a local chapter of the Sierra Club earlier this year. Soon after, the organization filed a legal challenge.

Their argument, said Bell, was to say the CVRD didn’t have the right to grandfather certain commercial uses on the property during amendments to the zone in 2008.

The Gas and Go application, from chain owner Wayne Procter, was complicated when CVRD staff recommended changing the C1 zone to remove fuel sales as a permitted use. Their hope was to reduce the number of properties where gas stations could potentially be built.

To legalize the existing gas stations in their rural areas, a new fuel service station-specific zone was created. Procter’s property was excluded from that as well, seemingly disallowing fuel stations on the land, but because his development permit had already been granted at the time of the change, the CVRD said the gas station use was grandfathered in.

“The response is that the development permit was validly issued,” said Dan Bennett, the CVRD’s lawyer for the case.

Bennett estimates it could be one to two months before a ruling comes down.