Town to reimburse property owners who win heritage appeals

Residents will have a chance to recoup the cost of appeal fees when the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) sides with them in a heritage designation appeal.

Councillor Ann-Marie Noyes brought forward the motion calling on the municipality to adopt such a policy. Her motion called for “the non-refundable appeal fee paid by property owners to the Ontario Land Tribunal shall be reimbursed in instances where the OLT determines that the municipality’s heritage designation decision was unjustified or in error.”

Noyes said it’s just the appeal fee itself and not additional legal fees. She said those fees are currently about $1,100.

“It’s not minor, it’s a significant amount,” she said.

The money will be paid out from the Town’s heritage reserve.

There was some hesitancy from fellow councillors.

“I have a concern about doing this and the precedent it sets,” said Councillor Darren Flagg.

“At what point do we refund other individuals who are challenging our decisions?”

Municipalities pass heritage designation bylaws to protect properties that have important cultural and historical value. To help owners of those properties out, Fort Erie offers a couple programs to financially support them.

However, owners are still able to appeal heritage designations to the OLT after the municipality passes a bylaw.

In the past, Noyes has been vocal about not designating properties where the owners are unsupportive. The municipality typically tries to get the owner on board first, though that doesn’t always happen, when an owner doesn’t respond to correspondence from the Town or when there’s a difference of opinion.

The OLT can order reimbursement in their decisions. Noyes said the Town’s new policy would only support that.

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