Lake of Bays approves revised Entrance Permit By-law
Lake of Bays Council approved a revised driveway Entrance Permit By-law, in the April 9, 2024, meeting.
Superintendent of Public Works, Steve Piece, indicated that the revision to the old By-law from 2016 will provide more clarity with new definitions, and includes adjustments to enforcement, such as using Administrative Monetary Penalties (AMPS), which wasn’t in the previous By-law.
Piece said, “What we are looking at for the update is to increase our definitions to provide more clarity to ensure we get compliance across the municipality.”
Councillor, Nancy Tapley, sought clarification about whether the Township would be requiring permits from existing entrances. She added, “So, if someone’s been there for 80 years, they now got to go and say you need an Entrance Permit?
Piece confirmed that this is what residents will have to do. He advised that it’s always been a practice. The new By-law will help enforce it.
“What we run into with some of these historic or precious entrances is they’ve never been accepted by the municipality. So, if we don’t have an Entrance Permit for that entrance it is considered a non-compliant entrance, and posses a liability risk to both the municipality and the resident.”
Tapley inquired about the cost of the permit, and added “The person that’s been there for 80 years we’ve just suddenly come in and say, ‘you need a permit?’ I would be mad!”
Piece advised that the Township hasn’t had issues with majority of residents getting the permit. He added, “Their taking out an entrance permit for existing.”
He indicated that the cost of the permit is $200 for the application fee and another $500 deposit “to make sure you do what we’ve told you to do.”
He continued that once residents pay for the permit the Township becomes responsible for culvert drainage at the entrance. For instance, an entrance installed in 1975 would have had one or two culverts replaced by the municipality during that time.
According to Piece, the goal of the permits is to create safety between the entrance and the road. He added, “So, if you have an unpermitted entrance and there’s an accident as you pull out of your, for all intents and purposes, non-compliant driveway onto the road and you get into an accident, that’s your liability.”
He continues that once you have a permit the municipality takes responsibility “and says this is a legal entrance and it meets the requirements of a municipal entrance, that’s now a safe entrance onto the property.”
He adds that the Township has people that cut entrances in the bush that join onto the road that could be on a hill or blindsided by trees which poses a risk for accidents. “This gives us control over where people across our roads because we take liability for everything that happens on our roads.”
The By-law will be implemented immediately.
