B.C.’s Civil Resolution Tribunal has ordered a Campbell River strata to stop enforcing bylaws that would prevent owners from running for the strata’s council.
In an Aug. 19 decision, tribunal member Micah Carmody said that the strata council had passed bylaws at a special general meeting (SGM) in September 2021 limiting the ability of owners, in certain circumstances, to vote at general meetings and to stand for council election.
A month later, the strata held an AGM and applied those bylaws to prevent certain owners from voting and standing for council, the ruling said.
The applicants to the tribunal — Clayton Briscoe, Doug McAlpine, Joe Vanderwiel, Hugh Schmid, Pam Stevens, Bruce Brendzy, Larry Chadwick, Barb Miller, Brenda Aucoin, Nancy Jensen, Bill Perkins, Doug Barker, Christie Medynski and Brenda Beaton — said the SGM was held door to door and was not in compliance with the Strata Property Act (SPA).
Carmody said the strata denied the assertions.
“It says the new bylaws are important for the strata’s long-term stability, and says its general meetings have complied with the SPA,” Carmody said.
The new bylaws said an owner, tenant, or resident could not run for or sit on the council if they had been issued four or more bylaw infractions in the preceding 12 months, and that despite unit entitlements or proxies, no owner could vote more than four times at a meeting.
Carmody found there was improper notice of the SGM and that a door-to-door process did not allow for meaningful discussion among owners.
Carrmody said a strata can limit neither owners' voting rights nor who may stand for council regardless of infraction histories.
The strata was created in 1976 and includes 53 bare land strata lots. There are mobile homes on most or all of the lots.
