road allowance

[cab]

Hi, thanks for the great site, lots of informative reading.

My question is about road allowance to properties that are land locked.  Is there any restrictions about actually opening a road to your property. Do you need permission from the adjoining owner or can anyone simply build a road??

Thanks

[Woody]

Cab,

I looked into this a while ago..... To use a road allowance you need to have permission of the land owners adjoining the allowance from an existing road to the property.  If you have permission you can use the allowance as is (of course removing the odd tree here and there to allow use will likely go un-noticed, but that's your risk to manage).

In order to put a road in, it must meet the standards of the township.  This means, $$$$$$.  Environmental assesment will be needed, then assuming you're not tapped out of cash after the assement, the road will need to be constructed.  As we're not talking about a bush road for one persons use, rather we're talking about a road that meets the standards of the township, building the road will not be cheap, even if its a very short road.

Possible roadblocks:

Need approval of adjoining land owners.

Need to pass (and pay for) an EA:

I'm not sure, but I believe even if you have the consent of the adjoining land owners, the township still has to approve the road.  This may be a hurdle as well as it will mean another road for them to maintain....... this costs money and unless they are going to get a good revenue in taxes on the improved properties, I will not be excited about having to pay to maintain another road.