The new owners of a Port Moody home that was the focus of a prolonged police investigation will have to pay $625 to change its address.
The owners had requested the city waive its fee for such address changes after they purchased the home at 38 Hawthorn Dr. that was formerly occupied by Trina Hunt, whose remains were found near Hope on March 29, 2021 — more than three months after she’d gone missing from her home.
Just over a month later, police announced they were investigating Hunt’s death as a homicide.
Subsequently, the home where Hunt had lived with her husband for 14 years was surrounded by police tape on at least two occasions as investigators tried to piece together the circumstances of her disappearance and murder.
No charges have yet been laid in the case.
The five-bedroom, four-bathroom house was listed for sale last October at an asking price of $2,388,800 — more than $700,000 above its 2021 assessed value of $1,656,000.
The listing sparked a furor on social media as commentators expressed outrage the house could be sold even as Hunt’s murder remained unsolved.
"Can you honestly understand someone who would want to buy this house. Disgusting," said one poster on a Facebook group called The Murder of Trina Hunt Discussion Group.
"So sad for her poor family," said another supporter of the murdered woman's family.
It's such a backlash that sparked the home’s new owners to request its address be changed.
In a letter to the city, they said the property has "been stigmatized because it is related to an ongoing police investigation."
They said a new address would give "the home, street, neighbourhood and community a fresh start."
But in a discussion at council April 25, Coun. Kyla Knowles said she couldn't understand why the owners would want the city to waive its standard fee for changing addresses.
"I sympathize with the reasoning, but I'm less clear on why we should waive the fee," she said, adding the city's financial resources are already stretched to their limit.
Coun. Callan Morrison agreed, saying the owners hadn't presented any information they're suffering financial hardship.
"We have a process in place to be able to change addresses," he said.
But Coun. Haven Lurbeicki said she sympathizes with the new owners' concerns.
"It's a point of compassion given this particular situation," she said. "It's their unique situation with this request and this home."
In the end, though, council carried a motion to deny the request to waive the fee.
The home's new owners are scheduled to take possession on May 11.
- with a file from Diane Strandberg, Tri-City News
