Law360 Canada (May 10, 2024, 3:14 PM EDT) -- Appeal by City of St. John’s (City) from a judgment of the Newfoundland and Labrador Court of Appeal which found that compensation for the expropriation of a property owned by the Lynch family should be determined without reference to watershed zoning. The Lynch property was zoned as “watershed” because it fell within the Broad Cove River Watershed. In a previous judgment, the Court of Appeal found that the Lynch property had been the subject of a constructive expropriation. The issue of compensation was remitted to the Board of Commissioners of Public Utilities (Board) to be determined. The Board referred the following question to the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador: Whether the [respondents’] compensation should be assessed based on the uses permitted by the existing zoning, which were agriculture, forestry and public utility uses, or whether the existing zoning should be ignored and the value determined as if residential development were permissible. The application judge granted compensation based on the existing watershed zoning with discretionary uses of agriculture, forestry and public utility. The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal and ordered that compensation be determined without reference to existing watershed zoning. The issue before the Court was how compensation for constructive expropriation should be assessed....