Municipalities Can Make Mistakes Significantly Impacting Land Developers

This summer the Alberta Court of Appeal in the case of 1694192 Alberta Ltd. v. Lac La Biche County (Subdivision and Development Appeal Board), was asked to grant 1694192 Alberta Ltd. leave to challenge a decision made by the Lac La Biche Subdivision Appeal Board in which it revoked a development permit granted by the Municipality after the appeal period had expired. The application to grant the right to challenge the revocation was refused by the Court of Appeal without much discussion despite the fact that the landowner was substantially prejudiced by this decision.

The controversial part of the facts surrounding this decision is that all the confusion and hardship to the owner stemmed directly from an error by the Municipality when the permit was issued. In certain circumstances the Municipal Government Act  (Alberta) requires the Municipality to provide a minimum number of days' notice to surrounding landowners within which they may appeal the issuance of a