Supreme Court of Canada

In July of 2000, Vancouver City Council enacted the Arbutus Corridor Official Development Plan (AC ODP) that designated the Arbutus Corridor for transportation/greenway purposes. At that time, the railway was still active. In the following year, Canadian Pacific Railway decided to abandon its freight operations, deeming them uneconomic. It then complained that the ODP designation of its lands constituted an unfair 'down-zoning.'

In April of 2004, Madam Justice Southin dealt with the question directly, in a BC Court of Appeals decision, pointing out that the City of Vancouver was well within its rights to pass the ODP and that, having done so, was obliged to refuse application to change zoning where those changes were not in keeping with the ODP. In making this ruling, the Court relied on the precedent-setting case of MacMillan Bloedel v. Galiano Island Trust Committee, in which a very similar issue had arisen regarding the forest company's alleged right to develop forest lands for residential use. In this and in the earlier case, the rights of a local government to use planning and zoning powers for the greater public good was confirmed.

You can read the entire BC Court of Appeals ruling at:

http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/jdb-txt/ca/04/01/2004bcca0192.corr1.htm

There is a brief but excellent history of the Arbutus Corridor as a transportation right-of-way at the beginning of the ruling in the section titled: Background.