Centreville Beach is a lovely, tranquil spot that many of us have enjoyed from time to time over the years. The small beach area is perfect to enjoy with a morning coffee, or on a hot summer afternoon with the kids. For many years most of us assumed that the property was owned by the municipality as there was never any indication otherwise.
In August of last year, however, the municipal picnic table and trash bin were removed from the small waterfront lot, and the following month a sign with a municipal logo was erected informing that ‘This is not a public beach area’. In the months since residents have been demanding answers, but the answer to the most important question, the rightful ownership of the property, is not for council to decide, but instead the courts.
I think most would agree that the best outcome would be for the beach to ultimately become the property of the municipality and to forever be a public beach accessible to all. But as members of council noted during a January 27 discussion, the ownership of the property is murky at the moment, and though many want to see the municipality assume control over the waterfront property in order for it to be maintained as a public beach, that can’t happen until it is clear who owns the property, and that the rightful owner wants to transfer it to the municipality.
Until the rightful ownership of the property can be determined, the municipality’s hands are tied.
That reality is no comfort to many residents who have been outraged since September when the sign was erected on the property, a sign sporting the municipal logo, informing that the property is not a public beach area.
Given the significant public interest in the small waterfront property, it is understandable for council to feel some pressure to do something, anything, but sometimes an issue is simply outside of council’s purview, and there is nothing a council can do aside from watch and hope like the rest of us.
Property disputes, or the confirmation of rightful ownership is not a council responsibility: that is for the courts to handle. It certainly shouldn’t be Meaford ratepayers who foot the bill to get to the bottom of the ownership of any property, even a property that has been used for many decades as if it were a municipally owned, publicly accessible beach area.
While many of us had assumed for years that the little beach was municipally owned, Deputy Mayor Shirley Keaveney’s motion, brought forward at council’s January 27 meeting, noted that ratepayers have already helped to fund $7,000 spent in 2020 in order to obtain a legal opinion about the ownership of the property. That legal opinion, provided by municipal solicitors, made clear that there is no indication that the municipality has any ownership claim to the property, and that opinion was reconfirmed by the municipal solicitors just last year. To spend another $5,000 now, in order to explore the potential for municipal acquisition of the land is, as was noted by Councillor Brandon Forder, putting the cart before the horse.
The first hurdle is for the rightful ownership of the property to be confirmed, and that is a job for the civil court, not the local council chamber.
While I think it is too early for this municipality to spend money on legal opinions regarding acquiring the property, I fully agree with the Deputy Mayor that ideally the property should be acquired if at all possible. Waterfront property has high value in the real estate world, but it has a different sort of value in the public realm. Publicly owned and accessible waterfront property is treasured by residents, and visitors to a community, and the more of it that is publicly accessible, the better, in the opinion of many, including this scribe. The Centreville Beach property is one that has been enjoyed by the public for decades, and it should continue to be enjoyed by the public for decades to come, but first we need to know who actually owns the property, and if they are willing to sell or otherwise transfer it to the municipality.
For most of my life I have lived in waterfront communities. I was born in Muskoka, spent my high school and early adult years in Barrie, and for the past 20 years I have lived here in Meaford. I enjoy living in a waterfront community, and in every waterfront community I have known there has always been a frustration that not enough waterfront property was publicly owned, and publicly accessible. Some communities have done a better job (or have had better luck) in securing waterfront property for public use than others, but the desire is the same everywhere: to have as much waterfront land open for public use as possible.
We have some nice beaches in Meaford, and Centreville Beach is certainly a gem that the public has enjoyed use of for generations. I truly hope that the rightful ownership of the property can be determined by the court. Then with any luck that rightful owner will be willing to sell or transfer the land, hopefully at a minimal cost to ratepayers. But we must take one step at a time, and unfortunately it is just too early to explore the acquisition of a property of which we don’t know the rightful owner.
I fully appreciate the frustration felt by many residents, particularly given that, in the world of municipal governance, not to mention the courts, answers often take much longer than ratepayers expect, but patience is crucial in these situations.
While council might have voted against the Deputy Mayor’s motion to spend $5,000 in legal fees in order to explore the potential to acquire the Centreville Beach property, my sense is that, once the ownership is confirmed, the consensus on council is that if at all possible the property should be secured by the municipality in order for it to be accessible to the public for decades to come. But first we must wait to see who owns the property, and if they are willing to part with it.
