Residents on Bluff Point Drive in Calabogie, Ont. are in the midst of a long legal battle with the township over rights to a now redundant easement.
They fear that losing the fight could result in a public trail system cutting through their front and back yards.
Residents say the easement in question is an old, long strip of land that was put in by developers in the 1980s to allow homeowners access to their properties. This was during a time in which the municipality had not constructed the roadway yet, which is now Bluff Point Drive.
“Now they’re saying they want to access [the easement] as a transit way, and that is no longer needed because we have a road,” says Jason Smith, a resident of Bluff Point Drive.
The easement cuts across 26 properties along Bluff Point Drive. In some sections, the easement is overgrown with trees and brush, in others there are homes, structures, and pools that have been built.
“Our driveway was filled in on the easement so they could build our home,” says Smith.
On one end of the easement is a decommissioned causeway that crosses Calabogie Lake. The other end of the easement leads to access of the K&P Trail.
Residents along Bluff Point Drive worry that if the township has its way, hikers, cyclists, snowmobiles, and ATV’s could end up cutting across their property.
“The township has mentioned in some legal paperwork against our neighbors that they would like to access their property and the easement for the purposes of vehicular and pedestrian access,” says Bluff Point resident Amanda Daley. “And they do mention the trail system.”
Since 2020, the township has been involved in legal proceedings to determine rights to the land.
“That’s what the legal process is going through, is determine who has the rights to use that easement,” says Greater Madawaska mayor Rob Weir. “So, that’s the case before the courts right now.”
Daley says her neighbour, whose property butts up against the old causeway, has been engaged in a lawsuit with the township over access.
“The township actually has taken our neighbors to court over this. There’s a court case. It’s been almost five years that it’s dragged on for them. And if you can imagine it, our neighbors have had a cost in excess of half a million dollars now on this legal case, battling the township.
“Our neighbors have also indicated that if required, they will be fighting this to higher courts as well.”
Derek Ellis also owns a home on Bluff Point Drive. He says if the township gets his way, his lake access would be cut off by the easement.
“I don’t agree that the township has any right to this stretch of land,” Ellis says.
“It’s in writing that the easement is for ingress and egress by property owners from time to time.”
He says all 26 property owners have banded together to ensure their property remains private.
“They don’t have access to Bluff Point Drive, so they’re trying to exercise some sort of authority over the easement and it totally it doesn’t make sense to me,” says Ellis.
“No one is interested in crossing my property because we have a road behind us.”
Weir would not say if the township has plans to extend the trail system using the easement.
“That’s in the future, if at all,” Weir told CTV News.
“Right now, there’s no sense making plans in that and being fiscally responsible to spend the money to develop plans, if in fact we ever do, until we know who has the rights to that easement.”
