Victor Boudreau's Shediac campground hits snag over lease

An old lease signed by the Anglican Parish of Shediac may cause problems for Liberal MLA Victor Boudreau's proposed campground in the southeastern New Brunswick community.

The Liberal MLA and his business partners want to lease land from the Anglican Parish for their project,but the parish may not be allowed to enter into the arrangement.

The Anglican Parish, whichowns a significant amount of land around Shediac,rented about 11 hectares of land to Dave Maltais, the owner of Oceanic Campground, in 2007.

That arrangement included a non-competition clause, which saysthe parish will not allow another campsite to start up adjacent to Oceanic Campground, unless the owner provides consent.

William Murray, the land administrator for the parish, said in an affidavitfiled in aMonctoncourtthat the owner of Oceanic Campground contacted him after he found out the parish was also planning to rent land to Boudreau and his partners for a 750-site campground.

Murray said the owner of Oceanic Campgroundis refusing to give his consent,unless the parish agrees to certain conditions.

He said the parish considers those conditions unacceptable, though the court documents do not say what those are.

The parish says it's asking a judge to rule on what is meant in the lease by another campsite adjacent to Oceanic Campground.

The parish says the entrances to the two campsites are 1.3 kilometres away from each other.

The affidavit says that's too far apart to be adjacent to each other,and the parish therefore doesn't need permission from Oceanic Campground for this new deal to go through.

No one from either side is talking about this issue.

The court case is scheduled for December.

Boudreaus campground was given approval from Shediac town council in April.

The campground, which would be located on the wooded land between Parlee Beach Provincial Parkand the road toPointe-du-Chne, would become the largest campground in the region.

The campground proposal has sparked complaints. Opponents have filed 49 appeals with the Town of Shediac's planning commission.