The under-construction Orca Place at 222 Corfield St. South, which is expected to open shortly. (Facebook)

By Spencer Sterritt

ORCA PLACE

Lawsuit over Parksville supportive housing settled out of court

Jun 8, 2019 | 12:48 AM

PARKSVILLE — A lengthy and unique lawsuit against the rezoning of land used for a substantial supportive housing complex in Parksville is now over.

Both BC Housing and defence lawyer Mark Sagar confirmed an agreement was reached out of court and a dismissal notice was signed.

The details of the agreement weren’t divulged by either party.

The lawsuit was notable for numerous reasons.

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It was initially filed by several residents against the City of Parksville, alleging they weren’t properly informed about the rezoning application for lands at 222 Corfield St. South..

They also claimed their opportunity to speak about the project was stifled at a nearly three hour public hearing on the matter.

However, by the time the matter came before a judge, two of the petitioners were Parksville councillors after the fall 2018 municipal election.

Coun. Adam Fras and Doug O’Brien declared conflicts of interest and mayor Ed Mayne also removed himself from any decision-making about the project.

The election also changed the official response from the City in the lawsuit.

Initially, before the the election, the City’s response claimed their handling of the rezoning was sufficient and it stood by the process.

After the election, the City refuted the previous statements submitted to the courts.

An affidavit from City of Parksville legal representative Sukhbir Manhas said “the instructions we received from City council was to not challenge or defend the petition.”

Manhas further said it was inferred “that a reason for City council’s instructions was that the public hearing was deficient.”

Then-CAO Debbie Comis publicly fought back against the claim the City hadn’t followed proper procedure when rezoning the land on Corfield St. South.

She told NanaimoNewsNOW the City never made any statement about their process being flawed.

Comis left her position as CAO for unspecified reasons roughly one month later.

With two sitting Parksville councillors listed as petitioners against a City-affiliated project, the City of Parksville withdrew from the lawsuit. BC Housing was approved to take its place.

The provincial organization was approved to be listed as a respondent in late December, 2018.

The matter wasn’t in court until this week, when it came to an end.

In the intervening months, ground was broken and construction quickly progressed for the 52-unit supportive housing complex.

However, the scope has changed.

It was announced the housing facility would no longer have an eight-bed cold weather shelter.

The shelter component was a requirement of the Regional District of Nanaimo, who’d put nearly $500,000 towards the project.

The City of Parksville repaid the Regional District the $500,00 for sole ownership of the land, removing the requirement for the cold weather shelter.

The move was made less than a month before the supportive housing project opens.

Though the City of Parksville now retains sole ownership of the land, the roughly $7 million project and facility is owned by BC Housing and operated by the Island Crisis Care Society.

Society executive director Violet Hayes told NanaimoNewsNOW nearly 120 applications for a room were received.

BC Housing is now looking for a new location for an eight-bed cold weather shelter, which Hayes said would likely be difficult to find.

spencer@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit