Homeowners fight city hall and win

CBC NEWS: June 27

A group of residents in Coquitlam declared victory Friday in their fight against city hall. The residents threatened the city with a class action lawsuit over building permit fees they had to pay in the 1990s. Susan Antoniali's fight began in 1999, when she was getting ready to do some home renovations. A building permit from the city that should have cost $5,200 ended up costing her more than $19,000 because of extra fees, called "deposits" by city hall. The city collected thousands of dollars in "deposits" from homeowners like Antoniali to pay for new sidewalks, curbs and streetlamps, as a condition of issuing the permits. However, the money was never returned, meaning in some cases, people paid three times what they should have in order to get a building permit. "In my mind, it was simple. You collect it as a deposit and if I don't harm you and you don't harm me, I get my deposit back," Antoniali said. She first took the city to small claims court, but lt. Then, she learned of others in Coquitlam who had also paid the deposits and didn't get their money back. They joined forces, and 272 homeowners signed onto a class action suit to get their deposits back. "They really shouldn't have tried to impose, let's call it a tax, on people when it's not justified by legislation," said John Dives, a lawyer representing the homeowners.

The threat of the suit was enough to get Coquitlam City Hall to offer a settlement that cost the city $1.8 million. On Friday, residents began receiving their settlement cheques, some for as much as $6,000. On average the residents who took part in the class action suit got back at least 90 per cent of what they had paid out. "I think the message for municipalities is get your ducks in order in advance and only collect fees you're entitled to collect, otherwise these kinds of processes are available for the little guy to get his money back," Dives said. Antoniali called the settlement a huge victory. "When it doesn't make sense, you've got to do something about it," she said. "You can fight city hall, basically."