At Monday’s Chatham-Kent council meeting, councillors heard publicly about preliminary plans to hopefully resolve the long-standing issue of Rondeau Park cottage owners’ land-lease issue.
In a report to Chatham-Kent council, it highlights how the municipality has come up with a possible solution, with the municipality buying the lots from the province and then transferring them to the cottage-owners.
The provincial park was established in 1894 and includes 279 private cottages, which are on land owned and leased by the province. The leases were set to expire in December, 2019, but were extended for three years to December 2022.
Under the terms of the leases, if the leases are not extended, the cottage owners would be required to remove their cottages from the park, which has caused some long-time concern and anxiety for cottage-owners. The cottagers have petitioned Chatham-Kent council for a long-term solution for a number of years.
Chatham-Kent CAO Don Shropshire said the discussions that have taken place over the last year have been between the province, Chatham-Kent, and the cottager’s association, with the three sides working towards finding a win-win solution for everybody.
If the land leases are bought by the cottage-owners, Chatham-Kent would have jurisdiction over the cottages rather than the province.
“The 279 lots would be part of the municipality of Chatham-Kent and for those things that we are responsible for, the municipality would have oversight,” Shropshire said.
The municipality has received preliminary appraisal information from the province regarding the value of the cottage lots, appraising the lots at $29.2 million in value.
There is a consultation process that will have to take place with cottagers and the public about the issue.