Simon's Legal Resources

Municipal - Normalization

. Danbrook v. Georgina (Town of)

In Danbrook v. Georgina (Town of) (Div Court, 2023) the Divisional Court declined to address in a judicial review a mucky municipal situation which reminds me of the Toronto Island resolution in the 1990s. Here waterfront cottage residents had apparently encroached on a unused road allowance for years and the municipality had been attempting to resolve the situation, also for years. The municipality was finally attempting a final 'normalization' of the situation [through the "Lake Drive Action Plan"], though the effort had to be unorthodox as the Municipal Act had no provision to address it other than trespass law (without legislation, which was required in the Toronto Island situation). An involved resident sought to JR the effort, apparently due to a municipal building permit ban over the involved area.

The JR was dismissed in an (to my mind) awkward and unclear ruling, on the basis of - variably - prematurity (there being other procedures to address the applicant's grievances), not involving any 'statutory powers' [JRPA 2(1)2], the inappropriateness of any JRPA 2(1)1 prerogative remedies, non-justiciability (at least by JR, as the challenged effort was not yet finalized), and the exercise of the court's discretion. The ruling is brief (45 paras), and doesn't lend itself to any convincing doctrinal quotes so if you're interested see the main link.