City administration will be bringing forward a future report after concerned citizen Walt Watterson addressed city council on Monday night over a lack of a legal back alley to access his property on the 1000 block between Main Street North and Alder Avenue.  

According to city administration, this isn’t the only location in the city where there is a physical alley, but it is not a legal back alley.  

“I believe it goes back to when it was surveyed into the city in the early 1900s, I'm assuming when those lots were created and there are, I believe, almost 20 blocks similar to this in the city,” said Director of Planning and Development Michelle Sanson.  

The report will be broader in scope in order to solve all of the legal alley issues in the city.  

Watterson approached the city on Sept. 6, 2022, because his intent was the purchase the property at 1076 Alder Ave. on Sept. 19, 2022, and construct a detached garage at the back of the property.   

According to the city, Watterson was given information about detached garages and accessory buildings but recommended that a land title search and surveyor's report be done due to questions about easement and where the property lines may be located.  

“Planning said at that time, in my mind, that we had the unofficial green light to go ahead and I couldn't see any reason why not. There are garages up and down that alley. So, I would have never guessed that a situation like this could occur,” Watterson explained to city council.  

After purchasing the property, Watterson gave a property surveyor's report to city administration. City administration then informed Watterson that there was no legal access to the back of his property. While there was a physical back alley, portions of the laneway were owned by different property owners.  

According to the city's Zoning Bylaw, "no development permit shall be approved on any site without legal and suitable physical roadway access." Therefore, a building permit for Watterson's detached garage could not be granted because there would be no legal access to the building. 

Back alleyThe alley between Main Street North and Alder Avenue is not a legal alley.

Watterson pointed out in his letter that there are currently other garages within the back alley. City administration noted that the other garages either had their permits issued before 2008 when there was no requirement to have a legal roadway access or the permit was for a storage shed, which would need to be registered on the property title at the applicant's expense.  

Watterson came to city council to ask for one of three solutions. He wanted the entire block subdivided at the city's expense, remove the requirement that a shed should be registered at the homeowner's expense or give a tax abatement to the property owners on that block.   

“I think we're paying property taxes on an alleyway that there's all kinds of easements or I guess there's telephone poles up and down the alley, there's gas lines up and down the alley, the city uses it for recycling and garbage pickup, and the community uses it, and I'm paying taxes on it, and I can't use it for what I want,” Watterson said.  

City administration noted there are 13 property owners affected and each property owner would need to agree to the subdivision and pay the costs associated with it. The city had proposed the subdivision to residents and only three agreed to transfer ownership to the city. The city estimated that subdividing would cost the property owners $5,000 or more per lot.  

As for the tax abatement, the city estimated that the portion of land that would be subdivided for Watterson's property of about 300 square feet amounts to just under $120.  

The city gave Watterson the alternative that he could obtain legal access through an access easement agreement with his neighbours. The agreement would need to be registered on all land titles, but no new parcels would need to be created and it would come at less of a cost. The downside would be that the city couldn't guarantee that all the neighbours would agree to a right-of-way easement agreement.