Members of the Huron-Perth Landowners Association who attended last week's Huron County Water Protection Steering Committee meeting got some bad news.
One of the speakers at the meeting was a property lawyer who had been asked by the Committee to comment on some of the legal issues that had been raised by the county's new Natural Heritage Plan. The first one was the belief by some Association members that a crown patent on their land issued by the monarch of the day trumped any planning decisions on that land, and the planning decisions didn't apply to them because they had a crown patent. Peter Pickfield, of Garrod-Pickfield stated there was in fact no legal basis for that assumption, and a crown patent does not protect a landowner from municipal property laws.
Pickfield also stated the belief of some of the Association members that the Canadian Charter of Rights enshrined property has no legal basis. Pickfield explains property rights fall within the jurisdiction of the province, and the province has the authority to pass those along to municipalities.
Pickfield went on to say the belief held by some Association members that landowners were owed some form of compensation if new planning policies restricted what might be allowed on a piece of property also has no legal basis. Pickfield points out case law is very clear if a municipality wished to take over or expropriate the land for its own uses then compensation is required, but imposing tougher planning policies is not expropriation.
