Off the market

County council has decided it will hang on to waterfront lot on Huyck’s Point Road.

Public water access persuades Shire Hall to keep Huyck’s Point Road property

A3.3 acre waterfront property, with more than half a kilometre of shoreline overlooking nothing but water to the horizon, has been taken off the market. The property is one of five County-owned properties the municipality is currently trying to off load to raise funds.

It is an L-shaped lot that wraps around the home of Gerald Taylor near the end of Huyck’s Point Road. The property was originally set aside as parkland—but nothing on the property indicates to passers-by that this was meant as public access to the water.

In fact, the only maintenance to the lot is done by Mr. Taylor and he isn’t keen on the idea that someone might buy the lot and build between his home and the lake.

County staff, meanwhile, are looking to lighten the municipality of some of the 120 properties it owns and were hoping this waterfront lot might fetch a handsome addition to the County’s coffers.

But a committee of council promptly scuttled any prospect of a sale of this property, not so much to protect Mr. Taylor’s view, as much to ensure that it retains public access to water on this island community.

Hillier councillor Alec Lunn led the effort to retain the lot.

“We aren’t that desperate,” said Lunn. “Not so broke that we’d sell it for cash. What will we do when we need cash next year?”

Picton councillor Bev Campbell agreed, clinging to the hope that one day the municipality might have enough money to improve public access to the property.

Even former Hillier councillor Peggy Burris weighed in on the discussion by way of a letter to the committee.

“We have lost so many accesses to the water in Hillier as many beaches have become “church camps,” wrote Burris. “They stop the public from coming down our roads.”

Some councillors want more direct involvement in which properties are considered for sale in their ward.

“I’m troubled that councillors were not consulted,” said Ameliasburgh councillor Janice Maynard irritated she learned of the land sales in the newspaper.

NOT THAT DESPERATE
Sadly, no councillor asked about the implications to the County’s budget. Six months away from a budget the memories of the struggles to fund the County’s obligations have faded.

Nearby lots to the property tucked back into the County’s portfolio are listed at about $350,000 to $400,000 for a comparable sized property in Hillier on Lake Ontario. They churn off more than $2,000 a year in property taxes as vacant land. When developed with a large lakeside home, the revenue to the County may be as much as $10,000 a year.

Not enough, it seems, to draw a question from council.

The committee of council voted unanimously to take the property off the market. Four others were approved as listed.