Town orders halt after road built without permit

Homebuilder ignored requirement for approval before using municipal land

This laneway was created without a permit from a municipal lot to 80 Blue Jay Lane.

The municipality of Trent Hills has ordered the owner of a home under construction on the Trent River west of Hastings to stop driving across municipal land to access part of his lot.

The municipality put a locked gate across a gravel roadway on town land that usually gives access to the river and posted signs prohibiting entry. It took that action in early November after learning that contractors working for Don Savery, who is building a home at 80 Blue Jay Lane, had dumped crushed limestone and created a short lane into his property from the town’s lot to allow access for construction.

Savery appeared at town’s council meeting on Dec. 12 in a effort to sort out the mess and regain access for his contractors.

“We’re totally at fault, obviously, we’re just trying to comply and follow whatever requirements have to be followed,” a chastened Savery told council. “We did get a permit for our property, not realizing that we didn’t get proper permit for the municipal property.”

Correspondence between the town and Savery make it clear that he had received permits from the town and from Lower Trent Conservation to construct his home. But on Sept. 11 he emailed the town seeking permission for his landscape contractor to use the laneway on the adjacent town lot to get to the riverfront. He said the access from the town lot to his lot would only be needed for two vehicles for three or four days to allow backfilling and grading.

On Sept. 27 the town emailed back to say council had approved the access with four conditions:

• obtain liability insurance of $5 million.

• remediate the municipal property.

• don’t store material on the municipal property.

• contact Lower Trent Conservation and the Trent Severn Waterway to

  advise them of the proposed work and adhere to any conditions they imposed.

Problems arose with the lack of action on point four and the fact that the contractor proceeded to dump limestone and create the laneway on to 80 Blue Jay Lane.

Savery told council that he had applied for a permit from Lower Trent Conservation in early December, 10 weeks after being told by council that he needed to do so.

On Oct. 23 town staff had asked Lower Trent whether Savery had applied for a permit. Learning the answer was no, staff from the town and Lower Trent visited the site on Oct. 26 and discovered gravel had been dumped not far from the river and a laneway created without a proper barrier.

On Nov. 20 Provincial Offences Officer Gage Comeau of the Lower Trent wrote the town to say it had contravened Ontario regulations by allowing such work without a permit.

Ten days later the town sent a letter to Savery that was blunt.

“Your request was specific in that the access would be for backfilling and grading purposes for three to four days and that it would be rubber tracked skid-steer and excavator that would be using the access.

“The roadway that has been constructed on the municipal property, and is still in place, is completely different and beyond your request of council.

“You have failed to fulfil all of the conditions identified by council, as Lower Trent Conservation has advised that a permit was required for the municipal property and was not applied for or obtained.

“Your use of the municipal property beside 80 Blue Jay Lane is to cease immediately, and access is being restricted to the municipal lands, as you have not complied with all of the conditions of approval, and have undertaken works that were not identified on the municipal property.”

On Dec. 6, Savery responded to say, in effect, oops.

“We unfortunately misunderstood the requested timeframe provided to us by one of our contractors for which they required access. We also incorrectly thought that it was only our landscaping contractor that required the access to said lands, but as it turns out, our building contractor would also like access so that build materials can be feasibly brought in and securely stored while on site. In order to achieve a safer means of accessibility, the path on which the right of way lies, required reinforcing. Our landscaping contractor installed a temporary gravel overlay, which was placed on top of a screen cloth base.”

In addition, since the home builder now wants to use the access, it will be required until July 2024.

Town staff suggested two options for council: refuse continued access and order the land returned to its previous condition, or allow the continued use, subject Lower Trent’s approval and then have the land remediated.

Councillor Dennis Savery recused himself from the discussion and left the council table.

After discussion, council agreed to approve the use of the access way. Councillor Daniel Giddings said Savery seemed to be trying to comply and perhaps had been misled by his contractors. Deputy Mayor Mike Metcalfe was the only vote against.

A visit to the site on Dec. 18 found work under way on the home, but access to the town’s lot blocked by the fence and signs.