ENCROACHMENTS
MUST GO!!!
JUNE
18, 2007
Fort
Erie council tonight passed a by-law that
will protect the public’s waterfront lands against
encroachments of all kinds. All six councilors, Bob Steckley,
Richard Shular, Tim Whitfield, Sandy Annunziata, Ann Marie
Noyes and Martha Lockwood voted to prohibit encroachments
on waterfront road allowances. A dissenting vote was cast
by Mayor Doug Martin.
Shorewalk
has been fighting this issue since July 10, 2006 when
a staff proposal was presented that would have called
for encroachment agreements on 9 of 10 encroachments encountered
during waterfront road allowance surveys.
The
encroached land would have been registered on the encroacher’s
land titles and further entrenched through individual
by-laws. None of that is going to happen now.
The
Town will consider encroachment agreements for buildings
and shoreline protective works which will have to be permitted
by council. Fences and other “soft” encroachments
will, however, have to be removed or moved back to property
owner’s own land.
Most importantly the public retains ownership of all its
waterfront road allowance lands.
A
tremendous side benefit of this protracted battle has
been the strengthening of Shorewalk. Our membership has
quadrupled in one year from about 300 members last July
to over 1200 today, much of that increase due to the efforts
of our membership chair, Betty Vanosch. Dozens of other
supporters and executive have worked hard in many ways
including coming out to sit through long council meetings,
fund raise, campaign, and build membership.
To
all, an enthusiastic THANKS A LOT!
Garry
Skerrett,
Shorewalk president.
PS
- It’s never over. Public meeting on Wednesday,
June 20 Town Hall re. drain pipe possibility for Thunder
Bay Beach. 6.30 p.m. This will be our monthly Shorewalk
meeting
Fence
Encroachments Threaten Public Waterfront!
June
1, 2007
Update
On Encroachment Agreement Meeting
Town
Hall - June 11, 2007
Support
Letter to Councillors
June
16, 2007
