By Dominic Abassi

‘Abuse of power:’ City’s handling of illegal tree removal case challenged in court

Mar 1, 2019 | 2:23 PM

NANAIMO — The owner of a Nanaimo apartment building doesn’t dispute she had eight trees on her property cut down without a permit. But Nancy Grace took the matter to court anyway, determined to publicly air claims City staff abused their power and treated her unfairly.

Grace purchased the former Pine Bluff Apartments at 400 Third St. in late 2017 and quickly realized it would take much more than a coat of paint and a new name to create safer housing for the 85 mostly low-income tenants.

She described it as a “scary place” at that time, with RCMP attending almost daily to deal with a wide variety of disorder. The main issue, Grace said, was a collection of large and tightly grouped Shore Pine trees up against the front of the building.

Grace said they provided the perfect cover for homeless people to camp, drug users to get high and people to store the spoils of crime. It was a source of constant chaos on the property, she said.

While police were as helpful as possible, Grace said she was warned continuously calling them would leave her at risk of being hit with a nuisance property designation by the City. Large flood lights installed to brighten the parking lot area didn’t solve the issue either.

armed robbery

Knife-wielding man robs south Nanaimo liquor store

6h ago

Shorthanded

Clippers fall short hosting Bulldogs

13h ago

off the schedule

BC Ferries preemptively cancels early Saturday sailings

20h ago

Removing the trees was the “last resort.”

“I had a building with 85 tenants and we were in crisis…The tenants were frightened, they wouldn’t come out of their apartments. I’m a landlord and I’m required to provide safe housing and I take that very seriously. I felt I needed to do all that I could to step up and protect the people and my building,” Grace told NanaimoNewsNOW.

In November 2017, Grace called in a contractor to remove the trees. Being from Victoria and unfamiliar with local bylaws, she said she never thought a permit was necessary since the trees were on her property and presented a safety risk.

Grace received a site visit from two City of Nanaimo employees, Kevin Brydges and Patrick McIntosh, shortly after.

“They pressed me for information about who actually removed my trees. They continued to press me and they left me with what I considered to be a threat,” she said, claiming she was told she would be ticketed if she didn’t turn over the contractor.

Grace said she heard nothing from the City until February 2018, when she went to inquire about getting a permit to remove a dying Willow on the same property.

Instead of discussing a new permit, both Brydges and McIntosh went into a meeting room off the main lobby with Grace and again pressed her for information.

“I can’t call it anything but an interrogation,” she said. “They wanted the name of the person or company that removed the trees. That was 100 per cent of their fixation. It was a complete abuse of their power. When I finally left that room I was so upset I was shaking…That went far beyond a bylaw infraction for cutting down trees.”

On May 9, 2018, Grace was given eight $500 bylaw tickets for illegal tree removal.

The matter was heard in B.C. Provincial Court in Nanaimo on Wednesday.

Representing herself, Grace pleaded not guilty and argued there is no provision in the City’s bylaws which allows for officers to use discretion and offer deals to avoid punishment to offenders who turn over tree removal contractors acting outside the law.

During his testimony, Brydges denied offering Grace reprieve from prosecution in exchange for the contractor’s name, but admitted he pressed her for the information.

The City’s internal call details on the file, obtained by NanaimoNewsNOW, showed Brydges did not enter any information on the case until Apr. 20, 2018, five months after he initially spoke with Grace. Nearly all of the entries about the file were made by Brydges within a six-hour period on that one day.

When asked in Court about the delayed data entry, Brydges said it was not normal protocol.

In an entry detailing considerations around enforcement, Brydges outlined several mitigating factors, including that Grace had no knowledge of the local bylaw and acted without malice to improve site safety.

“Uncooperative with regards to disclosing the tree removal company or person. Was decided to ticket her for 8 trees,” the entry said.

City lawyer Lisa Guidi told Court it’s up to the City to decide whether to enforce its tree removal rules.

“City Council has directed enforcement action be taken for violations of the bylaw, whereas the avenue with which it is enforced is up to the discretion of those involved,” Guidi said.

Judge Justine Saunders reserved her decision until a later date. Several times during the proceedings she warned Grace to stick to “relevant information.”

“If you’re going to be relying on intimidation as a defence for the charges then I think you need to get some legal advice,” Saunders said.

Nanaimo property owners can legally remove up to four unprotected mature trees annually, while no protected trees can be cut down without a permit.

Widely debated fines of $84,000 and $12,500 for local illegal tree removal cases were issued by Nanaimo judges in recent months.

While the City’s maximum fine is $500 per illegally removed tree, penalties can reach as a high as $10,000 per tree in the courts.

— with files from Ian Holmes

dom@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @domabassi