A hard decision in politics is to go against professional recommendations for what might be the right thing to do.
At a recent regular meeting of council, Coun. Cindy Hastings requested that an item be re-examined from last month’s meeting, pertaining to a series of letters from Tiny resident Tara Jaegar that questioned: Who owns parcel 58409 in Woodland Beach?
“I am writing to request that the Township of Tiny determine who has jurisdiction over the parcel of land… (running north-northwest) along the shoreline from the Archer Road and Tiny Beaches Road South public access point in Woodland Beach,” wrote Jaeger in October, 2021. The stretch continues north to Culver Road.
Jaeger, a lifelong Tiny resident, was told at the time by town staff that it was not a municipally-owned property, although the true owner was unknown. In her letter, she claimed that private property signs and hazardous fences were being placed with it “becoming a situation of adverse possession” unfair to some residents.
In April, council discussed the point where a municipality would become involved in beach ownership matters, with the decision to take no further action approved; their reasoning was that each scenario is different with its own set of rules as noted in the staff report and recommendations.
Jaeger told MidlandToday that when she requested a progress update last week because of a no-trespassing sign and a spotted pair of endangered piping plovers, Hastings had informed her of council’s hands-off decision.
However, once the area was cordoned off by Parks Canada to protect the birds a day later, the no-trespassing sign had been removed.
“The plovers were a blessing in disguise,” said Jaeger in a phone conversation. “They came along to fight our fight for us, and we didn’t have the voice but the plovers did. I feel like they’re my little good luck charm.”
A beach visit by Hastings also served to provide a better understanding of the situation to the councillor.
"I appreciate this is difficult and I appreciate the amount of work that goes into looking after our own municipal inventory and amending that,” said Hastings to council, “but I don't think just leaving things as is and saying it's not our responsibility is doing anyone any favours; and situations are going to escalate.
“It’s not in our land inventory; it’s quite possibly one of those situations where it was under the assumption that the Crown owned it and they don’t, so it’s a grey area,” Hastings stated.
Another reason council had declined previously was that through the staff recommendation, it was explained that each beach matter would require a review by an Ontario land surveyor and a lawyer with expertise in beach matter issues, both being a costly matter.
“Residents and future council maybe need to understand what costs are involved in pursuing this,” Hastings reasoned.
Since the previous meeting, Mayor George Cornell and Hastings had shared words that questioned the line where the municipality stays back and where they step in.
“I’ve given that some thought myself,” admitted Cornell. “When is an appropriate time? I think our conversation was around looking at our major beach parks, and Woodland Beach is one of those in that vicinity.”
Coun. Gibb Wishart also gave support to Hastings’ reasoning.
Jaeger told MidlandToday that a best-case scenario for the outcome would have the municipality accept the costs involved to clearly designate who the parcel owner is, to protect the wildlife, and to reduce shoreline lot owners claiming false possession of beach property.
Although Coun. John Bryant had declared a conflict of interest in all instances and did not participate, the remainder of council voted unanimously to reconsider the issue and have staff report back on the scope of investigating the ownership of that parcel of property, including associated costs.
Phase one of a beach property delineation project in 2021 surveyed and staked the southern boundary of Woodland Beach within Tiny, but did not install posts marking the boundaries. Phase two of delineation for 2022 included the entirety of Woodland Beach in its to-do list.
The staff report dated April 27 regarding Jaegar’s request in determining Woodland Beach ownership can be viewed within the agenda page located on the Tiny Township website.
Archives of council meetings are available to view on Tiny Township’s YouTube channel.
