New owner inherits dispute, but no dock, on Warren’s Lake near Sharbot Lake

Aug 26, 2020

A dispute over access to Warren Lake, a small lake off of Bell Line Road, has now been passed on from one owner of a 0.7 acre parcel of land to another.

The dispute has led the owners of Cabinscape, John Loerchner and Laura Mendes, to abandon plans to include the property as one of Cabinscape’s short term rental destinations, and according to them it is one of the factors that has hastened their company’s departure from Central Frontenac in favour of friendlier jurisdictions, including Tay Valley.

The property has been sold to Rachelle Wintzen, on the expectation that she will be able to access the lake via a dock that runs between her new property and the lake.

The dock is not located on the property she purchased however. It is located entirely on a township road allowance that juts into the lake, a fact that was determined after she had made an offer to purchase the property.

A staff proposal to Central Frontenac Council, which was considered at their meeting earlier this month, would have established a licensing agreement between the township and Ms. Wintzen to permit the dock to remain in place.

Ryan Conboy, on behalf of the neighbouring landowner, his grandmother Florence Warren, sent a letter to Council urging them to reject the license agreement. In his letter he pointed out that in addition to a dock, the “developer” who sold the land to Ms. Wintzen has “also constructed a water line across the surface of the road allowance creating another navigation obstacle and has built a fire pit.”

Conboy said that the township will be setting a precedent by retroactively approving construction on township property.

“I am asking Council to seriously consider the precedent that would be set by entering into a use agreement for this dock. The proper permits and approvals were never obtained prior to its construction, it creates an ongoing navigation barrier, it causes encroachment onto neighbouring property owner’s land more than half the year, and sends the impression that the area is for personal use and control, when in fact it is public land,” Conboy wrote.

The proposed license agreement would have prohibited any other use of the road allowance save for the dock, and had a number of restrictive, and perhaps expensive provisions, including the requirement that the dock be partially removed if there is a prolonged dry spell causing the lake to recede. It also would require Wintzen to purchase $2 million in liability insurance.

In addition to the letter from Ryan Conboy, John Loerchner wrote a letter that was included in the township package.

Loerchner’s letter talked about the experience that Cabinscape has had in Central Frontenac, and also talked about the details of their interactions with the Conboy and Warren families.

For one thing, Loechner said the dock was put in years before Cabinscape got involved with the property.

“The dock was existing when we purchased the property, it was moved at the consultation of municipal staff, and the need for a permit application was never discussed in any of these meetings.”

The letter points to a potential negative outcome for his own family if the license agreement were rejected.

“It greatly concerns me that prior to the sale of our property, we had an official letter from the municipality that our dock was legal and was NOT on a road allowance ... to then reverse on that course may very well expose us to misrepresentation of the property or potential legal action. This entire ordeal has caused my family and I enough hardship and financial burden. We are not willing to endure any more of this.”

In debating the council motion to approve the license agreement, Councillor Nicki Gowdy was the only one to indicate they were opposed.

“We keep making exceptions to the rules,” she said. “We called in an expert who said it was a road allowance. Why are staff asking us to make an exception?”

Other councillors, including Bill MacDonald, Tom Dewey, and Victor Heese, argued that approving this license would not create a precedent, because granting use of unopened township road allowances for the reasonable enjoyment of property, without causing any undue hardship to neighbouring property owners, has been done elsewhere in the township.

Not surprisingly, MacDonald, Dewey and Heese voted for the motion, as did Mayor Frances Smith. However, not only did Councillor Gowdy vote against the motion, Councillors Cindy Kelsey, Brent Cameron, and Elwyn Burke also opposed the motion. Councillor Sherry Whan was not at the meeting.

The vote was tied 4-4, and under the Municipal Act a tie vote is a defeated vote.

As Cathy MacMunn said to John Loerchner, who was attending the meeting from his home in Toronto on a Webex link, “the dock must be removed”.

Subsequent to the meeting, Loerchner has provided the Frontenac News with a copy of letters that he received from Central Frontenac’s Chief Administrative Officer on June 17 and July 13, which indicates that as far as the township is concerned the dock would be able to stay.

“The township does not plan to interfere with your lake access rights” the letter said. The letter also says that if the township’s interpretation is shown to be incorrect, “you could petition the township for access”, a petition that ultimately failed.

Mr. Loerchner said that the letter gave him the confidence to sell the property to Rachelle Wintzen as a waterfront property.