A B.C. city councillor was arrested Wednesday due to an ongoing dispute with the City of Colwood over the boulevard in front of her house.
BREAKING: #Colwood Coun. Cynthia Day has been arrested. More to come. #yyj #yjynews pic.twitter.com/iWMGFVOPkP
— Goldstream Gazette (@GoldstreamNews) December 5, 2018
City crews showed up to the home of Coun. Cynthia Day on Charnley Place Wednesday morning to remove rock walls built by Day’s husband Tim Day on the boulevard more than 20 years ago. The City claims, after conducting an engineer’s report, that the walls are a safety and liability issue, however, the homeowners dispute that claim after filing a FOI request and receiving the report.
The issue has been an ongoing disagreement between the City and the Days, culminating Wednesday in the arrest of Cynthia after she refused to move from the rock walls the City came to take them down.
“I told them I wasn’t going to go willingly. I had a right to protest,” said Cynthia Day. “They proceeded to arrest me, putting me in a cruiser and when I got to the police station they explained that they were simply maintaining the peace and not taking sides.”
Day was arrested but released without charges, based on her giving her word that she wouldn’t obstruct city work any further.
“It’s an issue between the City and a homeowner on Charnley Place here in Colwood,” said Sandra Russell, Colwood’s communication manager. “The homeowner built a rock wall and did some planting in the city right of way in the boulevard between the property and the road.”
According to Russell, that work was done a number of years ago but came to the City’s attention in 2017 when a tree fell onto a neighbour’s home. “It became a safety and liability issue. It was incumbent on the City to address the issue,” Russell explained. “She’s still a respected member of council and this is a separate issue from the City’s viewpoint with a homeowner and the city”
More to come.
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