Public Hearing Notice

Disposal of Surplus Property – Unopened Streets

Per Municipal Government Act (MGA) Section 315 that speaks to Street Closures, and the Town of Shelburne’s Council Disposal of Surplus Property Policy, Section 1.a), the Town of Shelburne may sell property when the property has been deemed surplus to the needs of the Town, in this case, such that no long-term use has been identified for the property.

Streets are defined (in the MGA, Section 307) as “… a public street, highway, road lane, sidewalk, thoroughfare, bridge, square and the curbs, gutters, culverts and retaining walls in connection therewith”.  For King Street, Water Street, Falls Lane and Ohio Road, the public width owned by the Town of Shelburne is 80 feet wide.  For all other Streets/Roads, it is 60 feet across and for Lanes, it is 30 feet across.

Through direction from Council, the Town of Shelburne will be closing all yet-to-be-opened streets and will dispose of them in the following manner:

1. first, in the case of a home or building fully or partly sitting on an unopened street (likely built many decades ago), the opportunity to buy that unopened street will be offered to the owner of the building.  The price will be the same as if no home or building was there, plus they will pay the cost of surveying and the administrative fee for the sale.
2. second, the Town will offer the next-door property owners a chance to buy the unopened street for the same price as quoted in a. above.  If both property owners on opposite sides of the unopened street wish to purchase it, then the unopened street will be split into two, for the length of their property.  This newly acquired land will be required to be incorporated into the purchasing owner(s) property.
3. if the next-door property owners are not interested in purchasing the unopened street, then the unopened street will be sold as a separate piece of property to any valid purchaser through an Expression of Interest (EOI) method. This EOI will require the purchasing party to build an approved structure(s) per the Land Use By-Law and zoning, within a specific time frame.  As is with all property, hook up to sewer is required but water hook up remains optional, if available.

Phase 1 of this project will include all unopened and Town owned streets from Elliot Street on the East, South Street on the South, Shelburne Harbour on the West, and Albert Street on the North (one street north of Glasgow).  The process will set aside unopened streets in part a. above and begin with next-door property owners that have already registered an interest in an unopened street/road. We will then systematically process the remaining unopened streets thereafter before the next phase will be considered.

This will allow those that are interested in expanding their properties, a first right of refusal.  The expectation is that this will lead to additional housing for the community in a time when housing options are extremely limited. Economic development cannot be successful without increasing housing capacity.

Although not required by the MGA as per Section 315 (1) (b) (ii), a public hearing will take place on Monday, September 19, 2022, at 5pm in the Community Centre (63 King Street, west door) to allow questions and concerns to be raised by Town of Shelburne citizens/taxpayers, and potentially reflected into this project parameters.

Respectfully,

Chief Administrative Officer

Town of Shelburne