What is a shore road Allowance?

In this area many of the lakes (but not all) have what is called a "shore road allowance". From what I understand these came about when the land was originally granted to our pioneer settlers. The crown reserved a strip of land around the lake of 66 feet. Remember that way back then, not all the roads were in place like they are today so travel was for a good part along the lakes via portages. By reserving the 66 feet for themselves, the crown thus made it possible for the travellers to land on any shoreline and camp, without the risk of being "thrown off" for trespassing. An alternate, and just as important, reason for retaining this strip of land was for safety. In the event that someone got caught on the lake during a storm they could land their boat at any closest point. Although it does not make a lot of sense (due to topography in most cases) it can only be assumed that the shore road allowance could also be used as a road if needed at some future time. As time went on, the roads came into place in the most logical locations and most of which were not along the shorelines. The Ontario Government (I believe it was the NDP) decided that it was sitting on all these useless strips of land on lakeshores and decided that the Municipalities in which they were located may possibly "cash in" by selling them off to those interested in purchasing. The land could only be purchased by the adjoining land owner, and not someone else. As the land owner (lot owner) fronts on the one side (usually the road side) and the Government fronted on the other (obviously the lake) there resulted in only one person being able to purchase this strip of land. This is good, as the neighbours could not purchase someone else's shoreline and thus "cut them off" from using the lake. As the government had no interest in retaining the land and the neighbour could not purchase it either, most lot owners decided not to put out the money as they were already using it without problem and no one else could purchase it anyway. This resulted in approximately 90% of the people NOT purchasing the shore road allowances in front of their property, however as time moves ahead I expect this percentage will reduce as more people decide to purchase it. The non-ownership of the shore road allowance, in essence, means that the owner of the property in front of it does not own lakefront as their frontage is on the crown owned shore road allowance and not on the lake. This non-ownership has not restricted the property owner from the full enjoyment of this parcel of land, however it must be kept in mind that the erection of a boat house may not be permitted as obviously the land is not part of the property being purchased (unless, of course, the shore road allowance was purchased and is part of the property). The large majority of Canadians are caring people and feel that if someone is in trouble on the Lake and need a place to dock then they would be more than happy to have them do so and without hesitation. To date I have not heard of any complaints of "transients" using the crown owned shore road allowance in front someone else's cottage and thus causing anxiety for the land owner. Can the shore road allowance be purchased? The Ministry of Natural Resources must agree to the disposal of shore road allowances, as must the township or town's council. In most cases they will agree, however this is not always the case. They are concerned about the development of the shore road allowances and the removal of submersed trees and weedie areas which make good spawning areas for fish. If you are concerned about whether or not the shore road allowance can be purchased for a specified lake you can contact the Ministry of Natural Resources in 
Bracebridge 1-705-645-8747 or
Parry Sound at 1-705-746-4201

Neither Ken Mashinter, nor HomeLife/Muskoka Real Estate accepts any responsibility for any inaccuracy in this report.  The reader is encouraged to investigate alternate sources to confirm or refute any content herein. 

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Ken Mashinter - (Associate Broker) -