South Bruce Peninsula estimates its legal fees for 2021 will exceed the quarter-million-dollar budget set for those expenses by about $1.76 million due to an earlier-than-anticipated start for the Sauble Beach land dispute trial and unexpected costs to defend itself during a judicial review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Mayor Janice Jackson said a schedule for the Sauble Beach trial was not known when council set the 2021 budget in December, but officials anticipated it would begin in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s now scheduled to start the week of Nov. 22, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re looking at just over $1 million in legal costs, but it\u2019s a big case. It\u2019s a very big case. It\u2019s the biggest that the town has faced to date,\u201d she said in an interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But she said the beach case is critical to the future of South Bruce Peninsula and Sauble Beach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is certainly the focal point of Sauble Beach, which is the major tourism driver for the town. The trickle-down effect to losing the beach I think is far beyond what anybody realizes. It\u2019s the centre of our tourism industry in South Bruce Peninsula and to lose it would be a big blow to the economy in South Bruce Peninsula,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Saugeen Ojibway Nation is claiming ownership of about 2.25 kilometres of beach from the landmark Sauble Beach sign to about 6th Street North. Jackson has said the town firmly believes that stretch of beach belongs to the people of South Bruce Peninsula.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Town officials say 83 per cent of the projected legal fees budget overage for 2021 is directly related to the beach claim costs, which were to be included in the 2022 budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n South Bruce Peninsula council had set its legal budget for 2021 at $249,500. About $412,000 has been spent so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n About $200,000 of that was used to defend the town during a judicial review of a Grey Sauble Conservation Authority permit to cut back a section of dunes along Lakeshore Boulevard and install a retaining wall to address parking safety concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lawyers on behalf of Sauble Beach resident Tom LaForme asked the Superior Court of Justice to quash and declare null and void the permit for the work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jackson said the town is planning to reapply for the permit once the review court releases its reasons for quashing the previous permit. That is expected to happen by the end of this month, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are going to try to complete that work this fall,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jackson has said the town\u2019s plan to cut back the eastern side of the encroaching dunes and install an 89-centimetre-high retaining wall from the Crowd Inn to Kinloss Lane \u2013 about 469 metres away \u2013 will address public safety concerns related to angled parking, help stabilize the dunes and eliminate the many \u201cgoat paths\u201d over the sandy mounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n LaForme\u2019s application said the town\u2019s plans would \u201cdestroy portions of the sand dunes,\u201d which \u201chelp protect many homes and other lakefront properties against floods, storms and extreme weather.\u201d It also said the dunes provide habitat for the endangered piping plover, host rare dune vegetation, bolster biodiversity and provide other ecological benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The review court has said any new permit will require the panel\u2019s reasons before deciding on the town\u2019s application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jackson said council approved this week a plan to cover the legal fees budget shortfall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The town will be using any year-end surpluses to offset the cost and will also draw from a legal reserve fund, which has about $500,000 in it. Any excess funds from paid parking revenue will also help with the shortfall, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf we still don\u2019t make up for it, we do have a tax stabilization reserve and there\u2019s about $400,000 in that. But it would be preferable not to draw from that, but it is there if we need it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe do anticipate that those costs will be covered.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Full Story here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" South Bruce Peninsula estimates its legal fees for 2021 will exceed the quarter-million-dollar budget set for those expenses by about $1.76 million due to an earlier-than-anticipated start for the Sauble Beach land dispute trial and unexpected costs to defend itself during a judicial review. Mayor Janice Jackson said a schedule for the Sauble Beach trial … Continue reading SBP approves plan to cover $1.76 million legal fees shortfall for 2021<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mayorjanicejackson.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mayorjanicejackson.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mayorjanicejackson.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mayorjanicejackson.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mayorjanicejackson.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mayorjanicejackson.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46,"href":"https:\/\/mayorjanicejackson.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45\/revisions\/46"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mayorjanicejackson.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mayorjanicejackson.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mayorjanicejackson.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}