A judge has ruled that a Grand Forks family is in breach of the city’s bylaws and can’t continue to display vehicles and equipment on their property as part of a motorsport rental business.
The city took Darryl Kenyon to court along with his parents, Charles and Muriel Kenyon. Justice Gordon Weatherill issued a decision in the city’s favour on May 12, but it was only published online this week.
The Kenyons, who were not represented by legal counsel, own a property at 7231 22nd Street, where Darryl Kenyon has operated Devil Drag Motorsport Rentals.
The city wanted a declaration that the Kenyons were violating the city’s zoning and business license bylaw. It also sought an order prohibiting them from storing things on the property including boats, jet skis, motorcycles, and other vehicles and tools.
The city further wanted orders preventing a business from being operated on the property except as a licensed home-based business and prohibiting the Kenyons from interfering or obstructing with the city’s employees to confirm compliance.
The judge granted each of the city’s requests.
Business license torn up
According to the ruling, Darryl Kenyon applied for a business license in October 2016, listing the 22nd Street property as the address. A license was issued the following month, but the city’s inspector said all business activity and storage of rental equipment had to be kept within a building.
“Since 2016, numerous vehicles and related equipment and paraphernalia in varying volumes and states or repair or despair, including boats, trailers, motorcycles, personal watercraft, and ATVs, have been stored outside on the property,” the judge wrote.
In 2023, following “numerous complaints” from the public, bylaw enforcement inspected the property. The city sent registered letters to the Kenyons, telling them they were breaching municipal bylaws. The city suggested the family could apply for a temporary use permit or submit a rezoning application to allow for storage of vehicles and equipment. The Kenyons didn’t take the city up on the suggestion.
Instead, the judge said, Darryl Kenyon tore up his business license in front of city staff, saying he wasn’t going to do business in town anymore. When the license expired at the end of the year, he didn’t bother to renew it or apply for a new license. However, the judge said the business continued to operate through 2025, despite the city’s compliance demands and notices.
The city inspected property 11 times as the problem with the storage of equipment and vehicles “escalated and worsened,” Weatherill wrote.
For his part, Kenyon claimed that he, his parents, and his son have been “harassed, assaulted, vandalized, and threatened by the city and others” and said the city provided “no good reason to stop operating the business.”
Keynon denied contravening the city’s bylaws and said he is no longer operating the business on the property, so a declaration about the business license bylaw isn’t needed. He said the orders the city sought were a waste of time and money. He added that the only vehicles, equipment, and tools on the property are for personal use and he has arranged to store the rental vehicles at Christina Lake.
According to the judge, Kenyon said the order the city wanted that would prohibit him from storing business equipment outdoors was vindictive and “against basic human rights.” He also said the city’s attempt to stop him from advertising his business was unprecedented and violated his right to “promote the business.”
Costs awarded to city
Weatherill said Kenyon conceded that when vehicles and equipment used for the business aren’t actively rented, they have been stored on the family property for personal use.
“The evidence before me is abundantly clear and I have no difficulty finding, that at all material times, the property was and continues to be used to store vehicles and equipment as part of the business and that Mr. Kenyon was and is carrying on the business on the property,” he wrote.
The judge found that Kenyon’s parents condoned the business by allowing it to operate from the property. Kenyon argued it was unfair for the city to enforce its bylaws when it has known since 2016 that he was operating a business and endorsed it by renting some of his vehicles on occasion. But the judge said that didn’t matter: the city let him operate a home-based business, but it was up to him to comply with zoning bylaws.
Weatherill awarded costs to the city, given its attempts to have Kenyon comply with its bylaws and his “steadfast refusal.” He said Kenyon has instead insisted he has done nothing wrong and is the victim.
