SHUNIAH, Ont. - Council members in the Municipality of Shuniah are hoping to come to a resolution on a road allowance near Silver Harbour Drive that will satisfy everybody, but it will take time.
During the regular session of Shuniah council, members received an extensive report on a contentious historic road allowance in Silver Harbour involving an access road and boat launch used by property owners on Mary Island.
One property owner in the area, Jo-Ann Marceau, has brought forward concerns to council regarding the access road and property owners on the island wanting it to be designated for their exclusive use.
Marceau also said she wants to buy 52-feet of shoreline property, while still leaving room for a boat launch.
Property owners on Mary Island, Mark Arvelin and Terry Wirtanen, told council that no part of the access road property should be transferred to property owners in the area.
Shuniah mayor, Wendy Landry, said she was hoping residents in the area could have come to a resolution on their own, because now the municipality is forced to step in as a third party.
“Then you are leaving it to the municipality to come down with a decision that might not please everybody,” she said.
But Landry added council will do what it can to find a resolution that pleases everybody, though there may be some compromises that need to be made.
“I’m an optimist at heart, so I’d like to think we can find a solution that everybody can learn to live with,” she said. “Maybe not everybody will be happy with the resolution and the proposals right at the beginning, but hopefully we can come to a compromise and something that is in the best interests of all the people in the area.”
Landry added that the Municipality of Shuniah has inherited complicated issues like this due to how some properties were laid out along the shoreline.
“There are things we have inherited that we need to clean up as they come up,” she said. “With that comes some of the things that haven’t been cleared up and they come up when new people buy property.”
Municipal administration will prepare another report for council members by the end of October that will include several resolutions to the dispute.
“It’s not something you want to rush, so it takes time to have some more conversations,” Landry said. “We’ve asked administration to go back and have those conversations again with the residents of the area and other stakeholders.”
“I think we want to get it right so municipalities in the future are not having to deal with this again. So we want to get it right.”
