The B.C. Court of Appeal has ruled that a law passed by the provincial government to stave off opposition to a supportive housing development in the Vancouver neighbourhood of Kitsilano is unconstitutional.
The provincial government had adopted the law at the request of the City of Vancouver in 2023 to push through a 12-storey housing development at Arbutus Street, featuring units open to low income residents and users of support services.
But the Arbutus development was opposed by the Kitsilano Coalition for Children & Family Safety Society, which took the city to court over its in-principle approval of a rezoning to allow the project to go ahead.
Monday’s ruling says the provincial government “evidently became concerned” the litigation could delay the rezoning, so it passed the Municipal Enabling and Validating Act to facilitate the project.
The B.C. Supreme Court upheld the law in November last year, but the community group …