DON’T CRY OVER SPILLED PAINT
Allison Cockburn, a resident of the City of Richmond, took the city to court after claiming that they had acted in negligence for failing to notify of a paint spill. After driving through a paint spill, Cockburn sought $400 in the B.C. Civil Resolution Tribunal hearing, which was the estimated amount needed to remove the paint from the wheels, wheel wells and other areas of her vehicle.
Cockburn alleged that the city was responsible for the cleanup of her car because they had failed to warn drivers of the spill or clean the spill from the road. The city denied their responsibility, citing that they use a complaints-based system for spills–like the one that impacted Cockburn–because they’re sporadic and unpredictable. Thus, they cannot always react in a timely manner without further public intervention.
During the tribunal hearing, the City of Richmond was represented by a lawyer who denied negligent behaviour by saying that the city didn’t cause the spill and first learned about it from Cockburn herself.
Due to budgetary constraints, the city noted that they are also unable to regularly inspect the roads for spills, and the tribunal acknowledged that the city was acting in accordance with their stated policies.
Ultimately, Cockburn could not provide evidence that the city’s policy was irrational or unreasonable, leading to the tribunal dismissing her claims.
TESLA BREAKS NEW GROUND
With the recent and ongoing economic disruption as a consequence of the Kelowna wildfires, Tesla is planning to bring in new growth in the near future. Recently, Tesla has filed a permit application to develop a 30,000 sq ft sales, service and delivery centre in Kelowna, B.C.
As Tesla has done across Canada, they were initially looking to take over an existing dealership within Kelowna to remodel into their own centre. Talks concluded in late 2021 to take over the Kelowna Hyundai dealership at 3260 Hwy 97 N. However, these talks–as well as talks for other dealerships–eventually fizzled out.
With this difficulty in securing existing property, Tesla has instead chosen to follow a similar approach as they did with their first purpose-built location on Vancouver Island. According to the permit application–which was first reported by Castanet–Tesla Kelowna will be located on a 3.49 acre lot at Airport Business Park, 3425 Circuit Rd.
No date has currently been set for when the permit application will be heard by the city council.
