At the south end of Forest Avenue sits a small spit of waterfront property that’s become a major bone of contention.
The future of this road allowance and prime, yet relatively tiny piece of property nestled on the shores of Lake Simcoe, could eventually be decided in court.
But Jim Boys hopes it doesn’t come to that.
The man, who heads the Grape Island Property Owners Association (GIPOA), said his group just wants things to return to the way they were before things went sour with the city and nearby landowners.
“We just want to have everything the way it used to be,” said Boys, who has been coming to Grape Island from the Toronto area since the mid-1950s when his parents, Art and Bertha Boys, bought a cottage property that he and his wife turned into a permanent residence in 2007.
“We’re still willing to negotiate, we don’t want to go to court.”
But Boys said association members felt they had no alternative but to file their $3.1 million statement of claim against the city after four years of what he called fruitless negotiations.
Boys noted that the properties on Grape Island are zoned residential permanent.
“We’re considered city proper and pay city taxes,” he said. “The city is being very one-sided and partisan. We’ll take them to court, we have no problem. We’ve all dug into our pockets because we all believe very strongly it’s our right.”
The lawsuit alleges the municipality has reneged on promises, halted enduring agreements and enacted a bylaw that has negatively impacted their life on the private island.
Because of that, they allege, they no longer have “unrestricted access to their properties” on the island via Forest Avenue South.
Lawyer Hugh Grant developed the island in 1949; it is home to 52 lots.
According to the GIPOA’s statement of claim, Grant secured, from the then Town of Orillia, a development of subdivision that designated the end of Forest Avenue South as the access point for the island.
When negotiations between the municipality and the federal government over a request to have the feds build a dock at the foot of Forest Avenue bogged down, islanders “worked together to build their own dock on Forest Avenue South,” says the statement of claim.
They have used it since.
In the early 1960s, according to the statement of claim, the city built a concrete pier, 33 feet in width, at the foot of Forest Avenue South.
“Before that wall was built, we just brought up our boats on shore,” Boys said on a recent crisp autumn afternoon while looking across the short expanse of water leading to Grape Island.
Since they could no longer leave their boats on shore and to ease congestion, islanders built and installed a second dock in 1962 while leaving enough space between the two docks to allow access for barges landing to pick up heavy construction equipment and materials required for building and maintenance projects on the island.
Boys said the city originally bought the waterfront road allowance to ensure islanders had access to their properties.
“Two years ago, we were also told they would allow us to have two 60-foot docks,” he said, recalling a meeting between Grape Islanders, city staff and two councillors.
“We thought ‘this is great, we’re all in agreement,’” he said, noting the city also wanted to ensure nearby landowners were on-board.
“But the agreement we had come do, they (the city) threw it out the door. While trying to work with the mainlanders, they changed it to one dock with restrictive parking.”
While the islanders had earlier bought a nearby property to park their vehicles, the no-docking prohibition between midnight and 6 a.m. means they’re essentially living under a curfew, according to Boys.
“Mainlanders want it to look like the 1950s,” Boys said. “We said ‘really why not go back to the 1850s with the horse and buggy?’
“Now, they (the city) are saying we never bought it with Grape Island in mind. Even though, we’re zoned full-time residential, the city is treating us as seasonal (residents). City council cancelled the working group after we got a lawyer.
“They told us we couldn’t have the second dock,” Boys said, noting barging operations were also limited to three days a week. “How do they expect us to exist?”
But Laura Thompson, the city’s manager of real estate and commercial development, said that while Grape Island is permitted to have one dock, the second dock was installed without permission.
“The waterlot and the road allowance are municipally-owned and the city believes they should be accessible to the community,” she said, noting the city received complaints about the the noise, dust and vibrations associated with the barging operations. “We have to keep the community’s best interest in mind.”
As well, Thompson said ongoing meetings involving city staff, council representatives along with Grape Island residents and mainland property owners only stopped after Grape Island informed the city that it wanted to bring a solicitor into the mix after two of its three working group members resigned, a move she noted “wasn’t conducive” to the group’s work.
“We felt that wasn’t in the spirit of working cooperatively to find a solution,” Thompson said, noting the working group’s last meeting occurred last fall; a subsequent meeting slated for this spring never happened.
As well, Thompson said the city never tried to take away the one temporary dock it allowed the GIPOA to have.
“However, the GIPOA has since expanded their dock, added a second one, spread them apart, increased commercial barging and put up a ‘no trespassing’ sign on their own and without authorization,” Thompson said.
But Boys said the no trespassing sign was only installed for insurance reasons. He said GIPOA members have never stopped anyone from using the area for fishing, swimming or just enjoying the view.
The city has filed a statement of defence, disputing most of the claims with council agreeing to take $75,000 from the tax rate stabilization fund to hire the firm of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP to defend the city in court.
The lawsuit seeks damages in the amount of $150,000 per vacant lot and $50,000 per lot with cottage; the total is estimated at $3.1 million.
Thompson said the city really wanted to find a cooperative solution, but one month before the final report was to come forward to council, GIPOA chose instead to commence legal proceedings against the city.
“The alternative would be to allow the residents of Grape Island to use a strategy of gradual encroachment in order to acquire what is effectively private ownership over public land and giving $3.1 million of taxpayers money to the residents of Grape Island,” she said.
“We’re disappointed it has come to this, but are working in the best interest of the community as it applies to both this, and other road allowances with water access throughout the city.”
The city’s statement of defence says a dock on the city’s waterlot is not the only “reasonable means of ensuring water access to Grape Island,” referencing other city-owned boat launches and several private marinas in the area.
The statement of defence concludes: “The (GIPOA) and its members willingly assumed the risks identified ...when they acquired land on Grape Island and the prices they paid for their properties would have reflected those risks.”
On top of that, the GIPOA “at all material times knew or should have known that, if they desired permanent property rights that would enable the unfettered use of two docks on Lake Simcoe, they could have and should have purchased land in the open market to achieve that goal.”
With files from Dave Dawson
