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A longtime owner of the historic Rockcliffe Boathouse says she feels as though she’s locked in a “David and Goliath” legal battle that’s forced her to postpone her retirement and clean houses to make ends meet.
Shirley Kent is still fighting for official title to the parking lot that serves the floating restaurant four years after she sold the property.
Kent said she needs the title to complete the sale of the Ottawa River restaurant, which was to fund her retirement.
“We worked very, very hard over the years and I’d like to retire now,” said Kent, 60, who owned the restaurant and marina with her husband for 29 years.
Kent now cleans houses to make end meets while she sorts out the complicated legal dispute that has freighted the Rockcliffe Boathouse for years.
The dispute involves both the Province of Ontario, which owns the parking lot adjacent to the restaurant, and the National Capital Commission, which owns the access road leading to it.
It involves an obscure legal principle known as adverse possession that confers property rights to those who openly use someone else’s land without consent for an extended period of time.
It also involves more than century of Ottawa history.
That history begins in 1875, documents show, when Jean Seguin established a ferry service that ran from Rockcliffe to Gatineau Point on the north shore of the Ottawa River. Passengers, horses, cattle and goods were rowed across the river in scows.
Historic photo of the Rockcliffe Boathouse and road circa 1938.
The Seguins continued to operate the ferry service for generations. They built a hand-cranked cable ferry and added a boathouse in about 1918. The ferry service later converted to motorboats, but the business declined as bridge traffic increased.
In May 1985, Bernard Seguin sold the floating boathouse — it then included a snack bar — to Bernie Bernac and his wife, Shirley Kent.
The sale did not include a deed, but the Seguins provided a statutory declaration that said the family had used the land and operated a business on it for more than a century.
Kent and her husband poured time and money into fixing up the century-old facility — “It really was in rough shape,” she says — and opened a restaurant and gas bar. In 1992, the building was destroyed by arson, but the docks beneath somehow survived the blaze.
Kent and Bernac rebuilt, and their restaurant became a popular summer destination. They added an expensive retaining wall in 2001 to shore up the steep access road, and expanded the parking lot, which often flooded in springtime.
When her husband died in November 2010 from a massive heart attack, Kent took over sole responsibility for the Rockcliffe Boathouse, but after fours years, she couldn’t manage. “It was just too much: the maintenance and repairs on a floating building are just phenomenal and I just couldn’t keep on top of it.”
So she put the place up for sale.
Shirley Kent is trying to complete her $1 million sale of the Rockcliffe Boathouse Marina to Eric Theriault, but cannot obtain title to the access road and parking lot because of a dispute with the province and the National Capital Commission. Errol McGihon/Postmedia
Gatineau businessman Eric Thériault bought it for $1 million, but as part of the deal, he wanted secure title to the parking lot and access road to ensure the future viability of the business. He also wanted to upgrade the parking lot and repair the road.
“It has gone on too long like this,” said Thériault.
Kent agreed to put $300,000 of the sale price in escrow until she could settle the ownership questions. The deal set a four-year deadline, which expires in October. It means that Kent has to finalize the transaction soon or else forfeit that portion of the sale price.
Negotiations with the province and NCC continue, and another meeting is to be held Thursday between the parties.
Kent’s lawyer, John Piazza, said his client has used and maintained the road and parking lot for decades without any interference by the NCC or the province, and that before her, the Seguins did the same for more than a century.
“In law,” Piazza said, “there’s a concept that if you’ve used a property for long enough, you have a right to it, and you can deprive the Crown of that right. That’s what we claim.”
The concept is known as adverse possession, which is sometimes called squatter’s rights. In Ontario, the Crown cannot recover public land that has been adversely possessed for 60 years. (Private property can become the subject of an adverse possession ownership claim after 20 years.)
Kent obtained from the province a water lot deed for the Rockcliffe Boathouse in December 2013, but has yet to obtain a deed for the parking lot or road. Historic photos establish the existence of the boathouse and road dating back to at least 1938.
The NCC maintains that it owns the road and it has offered to provide the Boathouse a 49-year right to use it for $444,000.
Piazza said the NCC wants to buy the parking lot from the province as part of a long-term plan to redevelop the boathouse and marina.
Provincial officials, he said, have told him they’re willing to sell for the parking lot for a nominal fee if the NCC agrees.
“The NCC is the one causing the problem,” Piazza argued. “And I’m afraid the NCC is going to keep fighting until Shirley is bankrupt and broke.”
Neither the province nor the NCC responded to requests for comment Wednesday.
Kent said most of the proceeds from the sale of the Rockcliffe Boathouse went toward paying off heavy debts that had accumulated on the property. She’s counting on the final $300,000 to finance her retirement.
“This money coming to me is my pension,” she said. “I really feel like David and the NCC is Goliath and they’re trying to smash me. I just want this resolved.”
查看原文...
Shirley Kent is still fighting for official title to the parking lot that serves the floating restaurant four years after she sold the property.
Kent said she needs the title to complete the sale of the Ottawa River restaurant, which was to fund her retirement.
“We worked very, very hard over the years and I’d like to retire now,” said Kent, 60, who owned the restaurant and marina with her husband for 29 years.
Kent now cleans houses to make end meets while she sorts out the complicated legal dispute that has freighted the Rockcliffe Boathouse for years.
The dispute involves both the Province of Ontario, which owns the parking lot adjacent to the restaurant, and the National Capital Commission, which owns the access road leading to it.
It involves an obscure legal principle known as adverse possession that confers property rights to those who openly use someone else’s land without consent for an extended period of time.
It also involves more than century of Ottawa history.
That history begins in 1875, documents show, when Jean Seguin established a ferry service that ran from Rockcliffe to Gatineau Point on the north shore of the Ottawa River. Passengers, horses, cattle and goods were rowed across the river in scows.
Historic photo of the Rockcliffe Boathouse and road circa 1938.
The Seguins continued to operate the ferry service for generations. They built a hand-cranked cable ferry and added a boathouse in about 1918. The ferry service later converted to motorboats, but the business declined as bridge traffic increased.
In May 1985, Bernard Seguin sold the floating boathouse — it then included a snack bar — to Bernie Bernac and his wife, Shirley Kent.
The sale did not include a deed, but the Seguins provided a statutory declaration that said the family had used the land and operated a business on it for more than a century.
Kent and her husband poured time and money into fixing up the century-old facility — “It really was in rough shape,” she says — and opened a restaurant and gas bar. In 1992, the building was destroyed by arson, but the docks beneath somehow survived the blaze.
Kent and Bernac rebuilt, and their restaurant became a popular summer destination. They added an expensive retaining wall in 2001 to shore up the steep access road, and expanded the parking lot, which often flooded in springtime.
When her husband died in November 2010 from a massive heart attack, Kent took over sole responsibility for the Rockcliffe Boathouse, but after fours years, she couldn’t manage. “It was just too much: the maintenance and repairs on a floating building are just phenomenal and I just couldn’t keep on top of it.”
So she put the place up for sale.
Shirley Kent is trying to complete her $1 million sale of the Rockcliffe Boathouse Marina to Eric Theriault, but cannot obtain title to the access road and parking lot because of a dispute with the province and the National Capital Commission. Errol McGihon/Postmedia
Gatineau businessman Eric Thériault bought it for $1 million, but as part of the deal, he wanted secure title to the parking lot and access road to ensure the future viability of the business. He also wanted to upgrade the parking lot and repair the road.
“It has gone on too long like this,” said Thériault.
Kent agreed to put $300,000 of the sale price in escrow until she could settle the ownership questions. The deal set a four-year deadline, which expires in October. It means that Kent has to finalize the transaction soon or else forfeit that portion of the sale price.
Negotiations with the province and NCC continue, and another meeting is to be held Thursday between the parties.
Kent’s lawyer, John Piazza, said his client has used and maintained the road and parking lot for decades without any interference by the NCC or the province, and that before her, the Seguins did the same for more than a century.
“In law,” Piazza said, “there’s a concept that if you’ve used a property for long enough, you have a right to it, and you can deprive the Crown of that right. That’s what we claim.”
The concept is known as adverse possession, which is sometimes called squatter’s rights. In Ontario, the Crown cannot recover public land that has been adversely possessed for 60 years. (Private property can become the subject of an adverse possession ownership claim after 20 years.)
Kent obtained from the province a water lot deed for the Rockcliffe Boathouse in December 2013, but has yet to obtain a deed for the parking lot or road. Historic photos establish the existence of the boathouse and road dating back to at least 1938.
The NCC maintains that it owns the road and it has offered to provide the Boathouse a 49-year right to use it for $444,000.
Piazza said the NCC wants to buy the parking lot from the province as part of a long-term plan to redevelop the boathouse and marina.
Provincial officials, he said, have told him they’re willing to sell for the parking lot for a nominal fee if the NCC agrees.
“The NCC is the one causing the problem,” Piazza argued. “And I’m afraid the NCC is going to keep fighting until Shirley is bankrupt and broke.”
Neither the province nor the NCC responded to requests for comment Wednesday.
Kent said most of the proceeds from the sale of the Rockcliffe Boathouse went toward paying off heavy debts that had accumulated on the property. She’s counting on the final $300,000 to finance her retirement.
“This money coming to me is my pension,” she said. “I really feel like David and the NCC is Goliath and they’re trying to smash me. I just want this resolved.”
查看原文...
