A Langley film studio is calling on the B.C. Supreme Court to overturn a land-use change they say would blow a hole in their plans to build a massive 16 sound stage facility.
Martini Film Studios (MFS) and a number of associated companies have petitioned the B.C. Supreme Court to overturn a bylaw the Township council voted to adopt on Dec. 4.
The Martini family has long been prominent in Langley, and for decades ran a major window manufacturing firm, Starline. The family, under MFS CEO Gemma Martini, began moving into film production as well, and in 2017 they opened a 150,000 square foot, eight-stage studio in a converted Starline factory.
MFS also opened what is now known as Martini Town, an exterior back lot site in south Aldergrove, featuring false-front buildings and a variety of streetscapes.
READ ALSO: VIDEO: Christmas event at movie backlot raises $62K for Langley food bank
But their biggest planned project was the creation of a brand-new film studio campus near the 216th Street highway interchange, in the Williams neighbourhood.
The site was planned to have 600,000 square feet of sound stages and support areas, plus 135,000 square feet of office space, and was to be one of the biggest studio facilities in Canada. It is located in the Williams neighbourhood, which had a large area designated for industrial-type uses near the interchange.
The firm says in its petition that it paid $190 million to assemble the 71-acre site, and has spent “at least $26 million in pre-development costs,” including site work that involved clearing buildings and trees and pre-loading the uneven ground.
But the company says that a land use change by the Township throws those plans into disarray.
Based on a motion from Mayor Eric Woodward, the Township changed the designation of part of the area north of 80th Avenue, near 216th Street – the future studio site – to civic institutional use.
The Township has been looking for a new location for years for a second operations centre. Its old operations centre in Murrayville, which hosts large equipment, snow plows, trucks, road salt, and other gear, has run out of room.
After public hearings in December, council voted to update the Williams Neighbourhood Plan with the changes on Dec. 4, by a 6-3 vote.
Changing the land use would carve off a significant chunk of the land Martini Film Studios (MFS) had planned to use for its new studio campus – impacting the section designated for office buildings as well as some studio space.
A redesign from scratch of the entire project would be required, and would eliminate an estimated 38 per cent of the film studio’s site, eliminating six of 16 planned sound stages, the Martini petition says.
The petition notes that “if this space is lost then parts of the surrounding office and support buildings would be rendered effectively useless.”
Losing 38 per cent of studio space would also limit Martini Film Studios in terms of its attractiveness to major producers, and reduce its economic opportunities, said the petition.
“These impacts risk derailing the MFS Campus project, and jeopardizing the resulting expected benefits to the local economy and the creation of at least 1,500 full time direct, indirect, and induced jobs,” it added.
During the Dec. 4 public hearing, the owners of MFS objected to the proposal in writing, and representatives spoke as well. However, the project was approved in a 6-3 vote.
The petition claims the Township failed to fulfill its obligations under the Local Government Act by not considering the people and organizations who would be affected by the new bylaw, undertake required consultation, and by not providing required opportunities for consultation.
The petition says these failures should render the bylaw void.
None of the claims in the petition have been tested in court.
Woodward said he’s hoping the matter can be resolved outside the courtroom.
On Friday, Jan. 12 Woodward told the Langley Advance Times that he will bring back the neighbourhood plan for reconsideration at the Monday, Jan. 15 meeting.
“Staff maintain that all required processes required by law were followed. However, hopefully council can avoid wasting a significant amount of taxpayers’ money testing these claims to the contrary in court,” Woodward said in an email.
The revised Williams Neighbourhood Plan is still waiting for approval from the Ministry of Transportation, as well as various other updates and engineering plans, so Woodward said there is time for more consultation and to consider bylaw improvements.
“I think we can turn this unfortunate petition to the court and the petitioners’ request for more consultation into an opportunity to make the revised Williams Neighbourhood Plan even better,” Woodward said. “Personally, I have no problem with conducting additional consultation. Hopefully, on Monday, council concurs, and we can move forward in a much more positive, constructive way.”
Gemma Martini said that she hoped the situation could be resolved without going to court.
“This legal process never should have been required, but unfortunately, the Township chose not to follow its own established bylaws and the requirements of the Local Government Act,” Martini said by email. “Given the very limited legal process timelines we had to work with, the court petition was our only option. Prior to the mailing of a postcard two days before the meeting, we had no knowledge of the proposed changes. There was absolutely no consultation whatsoever.”
According to Langley Township staff, advertisements for the bylaw ran on Nov. 23 and 30 of 2023, and postcards about the proposed bylaws were sent out on Nov. 22 to property owners in the area or within 100 meters of the plan.
– This story has been updated with comments from Gemma Martini and Township staff responses.
