BRENDA O’FARRELL
The 1019 Report

In an unexpected and frustration-fuelled move, councillor Doug Smith abruptly walked out of the Sept. 3 Hudson council meeting claiming he had lost faith in the leadership of the town’s elected officials after casting the only dissenting vote against a resolution to deny a minor derogation to a resident seeking to maintain a six-foot fence along the front of his property on Côte St. Charles.

“I have lost faith in the leadership in this council,” Smith said as we walked out of the meeting immediately after the vote that denied the derogation request.

“I am beyond disappointed and I am beyond frustrated,” he explained.

In an interview with The 1019 Report this week, Smith elaborated: “It’s gone on too long. It’s cost too much money. At a certain point we need to say to our lawyers: ‘How do we end this?’”

Describing the situation involving the stand-off with homeowner Trevor Smith, who is not related to the councillor, as a “legal boondoggle,” Doug Smith expressed frustration that the current council is the third municipal administration that has been dealing with this situation, which first began in November 2014.

The saga was triggered when Trevor Smith opted to install a six-foot-high wooden privacy fence across the front of his property after claiming snow-clearing operations and the excessive use of salt on the roads in winter damaged the 18-foot cedar hedge that acted as a visual barrier between his house and the street. According to the town bylaws, a fence along the front of a property cannot be more than four feet high.

The situation has resulted in municipal fines issued to the Trevor Smith, who, in turn, filed a lawsuit in Quebec Superior Court, which he lost and subsequently appealed to the Court of Appeals, which upheld the original judgment. Now, the battle appears poised to continue if not escalate, as the homeowner last week filed a complaint with the Commission Municipal du Québec and claims to be preparing to seek leave to have his case heard by the Supreme Court of Canada in the wake of being a denied a minor derogation that would allow his fence to stay in place.

In the meantime, the town is weighing its option on if and when it will proceed with a court-backed mandate to remove the fence.

When asked on Sept. 3 if the town would remove his fence, Mayor Chloe Hutchison said: “It’s possible.”

“We will send him a letter and give him the options again that are available to him,” Hutchison explained. She refused to elaborate on what those options are when asked by a resident.

“I walked out (of the meeting) because the others in the room are content in continuing,” councillor Doug Smith said. “I think I stand alone to say this needs to stop.”

“Whatever the lawyer tells us to do, we’re going to do,” Doug Smith said, explaining how the municipality is handling the situation. “It’s not us telling the lawyer what to do.”

“How do we make this a win-win?” he continued. “But there doesn’t seem to be a willingness.”

Councillor Smith said part of the problem is that all councillors never get to debate the issues.

“The council as a whole never sits down as a whole to discuss this,” he said, explaining that the mayor has excluded him from attending caucus meetings, while other councillors are regularly absent.

He added: “How much has this actually cost the taxpayer? I am scared to know this. And we have to be accountable for that.”