A married couple who own a blueberry farm next to an airport recently took it to court over a runway light fixture dispute.
Qing He Zhang and Min Yu did not want workers with the Nanaimo Airport going onto their property to install upgraded runway infrastructure. They applied to the BC Supreme Court for an injunction preventing that from happening.
The farm’s previous owners had granted the airport indefinite permission to go on the property for the specific purpose of managing runway lighting.
The new owners asked the court to revoke that permission.
Court sides with airport to allow lighting upgrades
Nanaimo Airport/Courtesy
YCD airport is in the midst of a 20-year master plan for redevelopment. Terminal upgrades were finished in 2018. Now, it’s trying to upgrade the lighting system, which uses space on its neighbours’ U-Pick berry farm.
The farmers argued that airport lighting is not a valid use of agricultural land — and their property is zoned for farming. The airport countered, saying provincial law does not invalidate their court-granted permission to use the land.
The farmers argued the previous lighting system had been working fine for 17 years and that the airport’s permission to use the land was obsolete.
But the judge didn’t accept the farmers’ arguments. The court sided with the airport, allowing it to install two new lights that would comply with Canadian transport rules going forward.
Failing to grant the airport permission would interfere with its ability to accommodate commercial flights in the future.
The judge found the airport’s permission to use the land was relevant to the present day and looked at case law to discard the farmers’ argument that the airport couldn’t place lighting on their property simply because it’s intended for agricultural use.
The farmers will have to pay the airport’s costs fighting the disagreement in court.