LISTOWEL – A portion of a property presumably abandoned for over 100 years was approved to be expropriated by North Perth at its May 11 council meeting.
A report from North Perth’s Director of Strategic Initiatives, Jessica McLean, explained the municipality has been undergoing an environmental assessment on part of the former CNR rail lands in Atwood, since 2023.
“This work is required to obtain a record of site condition, which would allow the land to be considered for residential or other community uses,” she said. “Through our initial review, staff identified this area as a potential location for affordable housing, although there may be other future uses for council to consider once the site is ready for development.”
Staff initially believed that the entire property, including the two George Street parcels, were owned by the municipality. However, a title search determined that one of these parcels, which connects to Queen Street, remains registered to a private individual with no updates on the title since the original 1891 transfer to a private citizen.
Therefore, this property is still technically registered in the citizen’s name.
McLean explained in her report that in order to enable future development, it is necessary to resolve this ownership issue.
“As the current owner cannot be located, the most practical and legally appropriate approach is to proceed with expropriation,” she told council. “This will allow the municipality to consolidate the site, complete the required environmental and planning steps and then move forward with future development opportunities if council decides to do so.”
According to McLean’s report, the municipality will need to comply with the legislative framework associated to expropriation (i.e., attempt to serve all required notices upon the property owner, deposit an expropriation plan on title, obtain an appraisal for the property, allocate funds for the expropriation of the lands based on the appraisal, etc.).
“It is unlikely that a claimant will come forward, given the age of the title,” McLean said.
Coun. Dave Johnston said he assumes nobody had been paying the taxes since 1891, “because we thought we owned it.”
CAO Kriss Snell explained that this should have been corrected when the information was moved from the old land titles to land registry, “but it obviously wasn’t.”
“But even looking at the old assessment map, we have a paper copy in the office, they have George Street as an unopened road allowance,” he said. “So obviously, historically, it’s been assumed it’s been an open road allowance for a long time, but it does have some gentleman’s name on it that probably hasn’t been around for a little bit, at least.”
Mayor Todd Kasenberg asked “in terms of process, a claimant could come forward in response to the publication of our intention to expropriate, is that correct?”
McLean said, “It is unlikely, but it is correct.”
Expropriation process
According to the website of the Ontario Expropriation Association (OEA) – which is a group of lawyers specializing in representing clients during the expropriation process – once the municipality has decided to commence the expropriation process, a notice of intention will be served to the registered owner and published in the local newspaper for three consecutive weeks.
“Owners then have approximately 30 days after service (or publication) of the notice to request an inquiry as to whether the taking of their ‘land’ is ‘fair, sound and reasonably necessary’ in the achievement of the expropriating authority’s objectives,” the OEA website states. “Where no inquiry is sought, the approving authority may approve the expropriation.”
In the case where an inquiry is sought to challenge the municipality’s claims, OEA says a hearing officer will be appointed and issue a report.
“The approving authority must ‘consider’ the report of the inquiry officer and decide whether or not to approve the expropriation,” the OEA website states.
“It is important to note that the approving authority is only required to ‘consider’ the inquiry officer’s report. Where the inquiry officer recommends against the expropriation, the approving authority may still decide to approve the expropriation, provided that it has considered the inquiry officer’s report and provided written reasons for proceeding with the expropriation.”
Atwood Affordable Housing Project
The 2023 North Perth Housing Action Plan included the investigation, planning, and construction of a proposed affordable housing complex in Atwood.
According to the action plan, R.J. Burnside and Associates was retained to complete a phase one and two environmental site assessment (ESA), and record of site condition (RSC) submission for the former CNR land located abutting the trail system in Atwood on Concession 8.
The purpose of the studies is for the proposed change in property use of the site from industrial use (former rail lands) to residential use (potential housing development). The action plan report explains that work commenced in the fall of 2023 and the 10-year capital budget forecasted a potential housing build in 2025 at an estimated cost of $3 million.
By Kelsey Bent, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Original Published on May 29, 2026 at 07:00
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