media<\/a> to vent their frustration.<\/p>\nIt wasn’t until March 2025\u00a0that the province finally announced it was granting\u00a0the city $60 million to rebuild its dike system and purchase private property that stood in the way.<\/p>\n
In Grand Forks’ case,\u00a0the city’s effort to obtain\u00a0provincial grants started with\u00a0\u201cdrive by\u201d appraisals of the flooded properties, with many quickly showing signs of\u00a0\u201cserious decline,\u201d wrote Murray in her ruling.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of the houses were vacant. Many were boarded up. Crime increased in the area. Houses were looted,\u201d wrote the judge.<\/p>\n
Martin O\u2019Brien was among the few who remained. The North Ruckle resident\u2019s property escaped the flood \u201cvirtually unscathed\u201d due to his home\u2019s foundation and weatherproofing, according to the decision.<\/p>\n
The initial Oct. 31, 2017 appraisal valued O\u2019Brien\u2019s property at $98,000. By late 2018, it had declined to $83,000.<\/p>\n
Backed by the province, Grand Forks eventually launched a voluntary land acquisition program that included a premium to avoid the costs of expropriation, including litigation.<\/p>\n
The program contacted O\u2019Brien five times over the 18 months leading up to May 2021, but he declined to accept an $84,000 offer every time, according to the latest ruling.<\/p>\n
Murray noted in her decision that O\u2019Brien chose not to participate, testifying he would rather be expropriated than bought out. While not clear, Murray\u00a0suspected the man’s decision was due to a\u00a0\u201ccombination of distrust\u201d and \u201chope that he would be able to stay in his home.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe posted a \u2018No Trespassing\u2019 sign on his fence to deter intruders,\u201d wrote the judge.<\/p>\n
When the city registered an expropriation notice for O\u2019Brien\u2019s property on Aug. 8, 2021, the market value had dropped to $62,500. He was paid out three months later.<\/p>\n
A second appraisal raised the property’s value\u00a0to $64,000.\u00a0On April 17, 2026, O\u2019Brien received the\u00a0$1,500\u00a0difference,\u00a0plus interest.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, it appears O\u2019Brien was not satisfied with how the expropriation played out. He filed a lawsuit against the Corporation of the City of Grand Forks challenging the amount of compensation he received.<\/p>\n
The former North Ruckle resident sought another $116,000 due to \u201closs of utility of the property,\u201d plus more than $29,000 to cover moving expenses, legal costs, and rent after he has forced to move.<\/p>\n
Murray assessed O\u2019Brien\u2019s more than $145,000 claim through\u00a0B.C.\u2019s Expropriation Act.<\/p>\n
Under the law, government must follow a formula that provides compensation based on the market value of the land at the time of expropriation.<\/p>\n
It also provides for \u201cdisturbance damages,\u201d a five per cent payment above the home\u2019s market value\u2014if it is a primary residence\u2014plus the reasonable costs of relocating to a similar property.<\/p>\n
In court, O\u2019Brien claimed his property was worth $180,000, but the judge found there was \u201cno foundation\u201d to establish that amount.<\/p>\n
Crucially, Murray found that the law does not guarantee a \u201chome for a home\u201d\u2014only the fair market value.<\/p>\n
When it came to rental costs, B.C.\u2019s expropriation law only allows for coverage of rental costs over a six month period. Murray ruled O\u2019Brien was entitled to $342 per month for rent\u2014or\u00a0$2,052 over six months\u2014plus $392 in moving expenses.<\/p>\n
Found to be \u201csubstantially unsuccessful,\u201d\u00a0O\u2019Brien was denied his legal costs, and overall,\u00a0was granted about 1.6 per cent of his original claim.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A judge denied the Grand Forks, B.C., man’s $145K claim after he rejected multiple city buyouts A B.C.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":672665,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[45,49,48],"class_list":["post-672664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=672664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/672665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=672664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=672664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=672664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}