North Cowichan council has decided that it will appeal a BC Supreme Court ruling ordering it to reconsider Vancouver Island Motorsport Circuit’s application for a development permit.
The municipality had 30 days from the date of the ruling and the council made its decision to appeal at a closed session following the regular meeting on Wednesday.
In her ruling, Madam Justice Diane MacDonald of the BC Supreme court said that for six years, North Cowichan “supported the petitioner’s development and was satisfied that its uses complied with the Zoning Bylaw.”
She called it “arbitrary for the Council to diametrically disagree with a past interpretation of the Zoning Bylaw without explaining the basis for the disagreement.”
The Court returned the matter to the municipality for reconsideration, together with the completed application materials.
Madam Justice MacDonald said the application for a development permit must be assessed on its technical merits.
The Vancouver Island Motorsports Circuit facility was built in 2016 and is owned by GAIN Group.
The group had planned to expand the facility on an additional 42 hectares of land adjacent to its present high-performance vehicle track.
