Wayne used to have a killer view. There’s a reason why the road he lives on is on the west slope of Burnaby’s Capitol Hill area. It offers incredible views towards downtown Vancouver including Burrard Inlet. Posted above is a photo of how the view used to look.
Today, a new house has been built in front of his and it’s the approval of that house that has led Wayne to petition the City of Burnaby in the Supreme Court of British Columbia.
In the petition, Wayne wants the situation rectified or for the city to pay him $1 million in compensation for “irreversible and permanent damages” suffered by his family through the loss of their “precious” view. The petition also states that he will accept $50,000 if the “illegal portal” of the new house is “knocked down.”
“You are taking something that belongs to me from my hand,” Wayne says in a screenshot of a text message he included in the case evidence attached to his court petition. “It’s awful.”
According to the petition, Wayne asserts that the City of Burnaby’s front yard setback calculations for the new house are incorrect and so the permit for the house shouldn’t have been issued.
In a September 2020 email from the City of Burnaby, the city asserts that it relies on current B.C. Land Surveyors survey data for building locations.
The petition also alleges the city “delayed responses” and “constantly fooled and misled the petitioner” during the process of communication over the proposed house. The petition says that Wayne and his family have “suffered serious anxiety, depression” due to this project.
The petition was submitted on Feb. 25 and the allegations have not been tried in court.
This case is quite something. In 30 years in journalism, I’ve been approached with a long list of complaints from people from their neighbours, but never anyone asking for a million dollars for the loss of a view.
I mean, does anyone own a view? Should anyone expect that nothing will ever get built to block that view? The bigger question is does the loss of a view relate to a dollar figure in a court decision. We'll see if this petition gets anywhere.
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.
