Minto opts out of Line Fences Act

MINTO – Council here will no longer process applications under a centuries-old provincial law intended to help neighbouring property owners settle disputes over boundary fences.

Council voted on Aug. 11 to opt out of the Line Fences Act after receiving a report from clerk Annilene McRobb.

The legislation provides a framework for resolving disputes between adjoining landowners over the construction, reconstruction or repair of fences when the property owners cannot reach an agreement themselves.

McRobb told council the legislation has a lengthy history, with fence viewers referenced in an Upper Canada legislative act as early as 1793 and Ontario’s first fencing legislation passed in 1834.

“It is a very old act,” McRobb said. 

She added the issue was discussed during a recent Association of Municipal Managers, Clerks and Treasurers of Ontario (AMCTO) conference, where she learned several municipalities are opting out of the legislation because it is antiquated. 

McRobb explained there are essentially two circumstances in which neighbouring landowners can make an application under the act: when no fence exists along a boundary and one owner wants to construct one, or when an existing fence is believed to require reconstruction or repair.

According to a staff report, fence viewers can determine how responsibility for the fencing work should be divided between adjoining landowners and describe the fence to be constructed or reconstructed, including the materials to be used.

“We can only determine the apportionment of work or description of the fence, but not where the line is,” McRobb said.

The report states the town’s building department already advises property owners planning to construct a fence to make sure they know the location of their property boundary and to build on their own property.

Use of the Line Fences Act has also been exceedingly rare in Minto. Staff could recall only one request under the legislation since 2000. 

A review of the other six municipalities in Wellington County found Wellington North has already passed a bylaw not to process applications under the act, while most have dealt with one or fewer applications during the past two terms of council.

Councillor Judy Dirksen said changes in agriculture over the past several decades have also reduced the need for the service.

“Often fences now are just non-existent between neighbours, and in the past, fence viewers were certainly much busier,” she said.

With just one request in roughly 25 years, Dirksen said the legislation has “outlived its usefulness for us. It’s obvious it’s an unused and probably unnecessary service for the most part.”

Council unanimously approved the motion to receive the report and consider a bylaw opting out of the Line Fences Act.