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Town of Mono declares road surplus ahead of possible sale

June 15, 2023   ·   0 Comments

By JAMES MATTHEWS

Mono declared a portion of an unused road allowance as surplus, clearing the way for its disposal. 

However, the municipality decides to dispose of it.

“The next step … in this process is that we entertain a bylaw … to permanently close up the unopened road allowance,” said Mayor John Creelman. “But we still aren’t at the stage of determining how we dispose of the land.”

He said it’s maybe just one-third of the process.

“So it’s declared surplus but it’s still Mono town land until we sell it,” said Councillor Elaine Capes. “If we changed our mind about the surplus package, we can redefine its use.”

“Until we sell it, it’s ours,” Creelman said and added that the method of disposal has yet to be decided.

The town received a request from the Bruce Trail Conservancy (BTC) to convey a portion of an unopened road allowance between Concession Roads 6 and 7 west of County Road 18 and to the conservancy.

The BTC wants to secure permanent access for the Bruce Trail, where it crosses Airport Road, heading west to the property they own on the west side of the 6th Line EHS road allowance. BTC also owns the land between the 6th Line EHS and Airport Road.

Conveying the road allowance would create three adjacent and continuous properties, all owned by BTC, which could be amalgamated into a single property, writes Fred Simpson, the town’s clerk, in a report to the council.

The entire unopened road allowance is about 700 metres long. The BTC application is to convey the very last 50 metres to themselves, suggesting the remainder be conveyed to adjacent landowners.

Staff have discussed with the adjacent landowners who have expressed an interest in purchasing portions of the road allowance abutting their respective properties.

The specifics of the division of the road allowance would be subject to further discussions with the landowners.

Simpson told the council during the meeting that the town’s public works and the recreation departments have no concerns with the property being deemed surplus.

He said the council should give staff the authority to negotiate sale prices with interested landowners.

“It would be, in staff’s opinion, better to dispose of the entire unopened road allowance as opposed to just that northern 50 metres that The Bruce Trail was looking for,” Simpson said.

There’s no need for an appraisal, he said, because the properties don’t have any monetary value beyond what they mean to the adjacent landowners.

Coun. Ralph Manktelow requested Mike Dunsmore, the town’s public works director, confirm the sections of the road won’t be of value to the municipality in the future.

“Public works would deem this as a liability and a future maintenance cost to the town,” Dunsmore said.

Simpson said adjacent landowners have all been notified of the BTC request, and there have been no objections.

“If council deems this surplus, there will be a negotiation and a discussion with all the potentially affected landowners on how the land will be divvied,” Simpson said.

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