AN AGAR AVE. resident has been unable to convince city council to help her find her property stakes in a bid to ease a conflict with a neighbour over a fence.
Judith Haydock is convinced her neighbour’s fence is on her property but can’t tell for sure because she can’t find her property line.
And because she pays taxes, Haydock told council Sept. 23 the city should help out.
“I was told at city hall to go down to city works to make some discoveries... and their only response was to look at TerraMaps,” said Haydock of a mapping program available on the city’s website.
According to Haydock, she consulted two TerraMaps that didn’t seem to match, and concluded that TerraMaps “isn’t a good system for dealing with neighbourly disputes.”
City director of development services David Block said that sometimes properties that have been staked a long time ago have had the survey markers removed or covered and that the city will lend out metal detectors to help home owners find them.
Councillor Stacey Tyers said she thought there might be a rule that ensures property owners who wanted to build a fence must have a professional survey conducted first.
Hayock called this a “gap in policy” and councillor Bruce Bidgood wanted staff to look into the feasibility of making a regulation that would allow the city to fund surveys. But Haydock’s estimate of a survey cost of between $1,500 and $2,000 was regarded by city council as being out of its reach.