Haiyang Enterprises Ltd. is petitioning BC Supreme Court for an order to require Vancouver’s director of planning to reconsider its application for a development permit for a Kerrisdale “health enhancement centre” doing business as Windsor Spa.
In a petition filed July 6, Haiyang claimed that the board of variance refused its permit due to neighbours’ “unsubstantiated” allegations that the business operated as a brothel.
“The planning department was biased in its belief that the Windsor Spa was a bawdy house and its employees engaged in prostitution,” the petition contends, “and it and the board of variance accepted the plethora of [public] statements that the spa was illegitimate, illegal, involved in illegal activities, engaging in human trafficking and prostitution without critical examination to determine if there was any credible evidence meeting even the lowest level of admissibility.”
The petition argues that the decision to refuse the development permit was:
- made arbitrarily or in bad faith;
- for an improper purpose; and
- based “entirely or predominantly” on irrelevant factors.
The petition names former City of Vancouver planning director Brent Toderian and the city’s board of variance as respondents.
As of press deadline, no response to the petition had been filed.
