Innisfil’s Friday Harbour Resort wins land dispute

by Janis Ramsay Innisfil Journal

Friday Harbour Resort has won a lengthy land dispute before the Superior court.

Back in December 2011, Friday Harbour applied to the Land Titles Act to claim a piece of waterfront land, which had been a right of way for several years.

The property is on Big Bay Point and was previously used by area cottage owners as a small roadway to get to their cottages.

“Using aerial photos from 1965 and 1975, we can see how the eastern shoreline of Big Bay Point was sliced apart by an entrance channel to a marina dredged into the land of common ownership,” Justice Margaret P. Eberhard wrote in her online finding.

Over time, one of the cottage owners liked the area so much, he purchased a second lot and built a permanent home in 1995.

It was only when building the home he discovered the right of way.

He lived there year-round until selling it in 2007, with the new owner filing a counterclaim to stop Friday Harbour gaining possession of the property.

In her Dec. 15 finding, Eberhard agreed Friday Harbour had proven it had possession of the land.

She dismissed the counterclaim and has given council opportunity to discuss costs in the case.