A B.C Supreme Court judge has ruled that a shipping container being used to store children’s items on a residential property in Surrey, B.C., violates a city zoning bylaw, and must be removed.
Praveen Kaur Koonar and Jaswinder Singh Koonar have been in a lengthy dispute with the City of Surrey over the container, which sits on a property Praveen Kaur Koonar owns. The property is zoned for single-family residential use.
Justice Geoffrey Gomery’s decision, which was handed down in February and posted online Tuesday, says the matter had been pending for a long time and needed to be resolved.
“The order does not prevent you from having a storage shed, but you cannot have a storage shed that is a shipping container,” wrote Gomery.
Surrey’s zoning bylaw states that shipping containers are only allowed in industrial zones, with one exception for residential properties where one is required during construction projects. The Koonars were found to have contravened the bylaw.
Container had been modified
The judge said the container had been modified with the addition of a door and three windows, and while it may no longer be used in the shipment of goods due to its modifications, its still a shipping container “within the meaning of the law.”
The City of Surrey had been advising the Koonars to remove the container since spring 2022. Several deadline extensions were requested by the Koonars and granted by the city.
Gomery wrote that he was advised by Jaswinder Singh Koonar that the container was being used to store items belonging to his children, “who were living on campus at local universities.”
After further requests to extend the deadline, the Koonars were eventually ordered to remove the shipping container by May 1, 2024.
They “did not accept that proposal,” wrote Justice Gomery, saying the city is justified in requesting the removal order.
“There are no exceptional circumstances warranting refusal of an order,” he wrote.
The Koonars were also ordered to pay the City of Surrey $1,000 in costs.