Nova Scotia judge settles title to beachfront land in Lawrencetown

Residents in the Lawrencetown area of Nova Scotia's Eastern Shorehave settled the question of ownership ofa beachfront strip of land.

Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Peter Rosinskion Thursday approved the certificate of title of Calvin and Caren Mofford to a strip of land on Conrad's Beach.

The Moffordshad applied for the certificate under the Quieting of Titles Act. Quieting of title is a process that is used to establish ownership of a piece of property, where ownership is in question.

In this case, the property was a strip of land between the Moffords'property line as outlined in the deed when they purchased their land in 1999, and the boundary of their property as indicated in a 2015 survey.

Thursday's ruling clarifiedthat the Moffordsdo, in fact, own that strip of land.

Initial concerns

The CBC first reported on this story in April, when the West Lawrencetown Residents' Association raised concerns with what the quieting of title process could mean for public access to the beach. Since then, the group has been assured theBeaches Actdoes in fact protect public access to the popular beach, including a 12-metre buffer between the beach's high water mark and the edge of the person's property.

The residentsassociation subsequently retracted theirstatements, and apologized for having suggested that public access to the western part of Conrad's Beach would be affected.

The residentsassociation also apologized for having suggested that the Moffords were attempting to privatize public lands.

In Nova Scotia, beaches are public lands up to the high water mark. The boundary of the Mofford's propertyin this case is 12 metres inland of the high water mark.

• Conrads Beach to remain publicly accessible

A portion of the strip of land that was in question is a designated protected beach. The province's Beaches Act does not preclude private ownership of a designated beach, but it does limit what can be done with the land.

In this case, the Mofford's private ownershipof a portion of the strip ofland will still be subject to the Beaches Act, which states that beaches are dedicated to the "benefit, education and enjoyment" of current and future generations of Nova Scotians.

In court on Thursday, no one contested the application to quiet title, including the province's Attorney General.

Rosinski told the court he was satisfiedthat no one opposed the application, and that the necessary steps had been taken to notify the public and any parties who could have objected.

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