Randy McLean purchased Billy’s Restaurant on Highway 3 42 years ago.
Well, he purchased most of it anyways.
McLean, who is a town councillor, learned last year that his restaurant is partially built on a lane allowance owned by the Town of Princeton.
Since that time he has been working with the municipality and provincial ministries to pave the way for him to purchase the land.
That process is nearly complete and a public hearing on the matter will be held May 6.
“We bought the business in 1977,” said McLean. “We were not aware of any encroachment…When surveyors were working on land adjacent to us a year ago they discovered that land titles had not had the transferred registered.”
Princeton CAO Lyle Thomas described the situation as “unusual.”
Records indicate the process to close the lane allowance was begun in 1975, but the council and administration of the day didn’t follow through.
The property in question is 1089 square feet and includes the embankment behind the restaurant.
McLean will pay $12,719 to right the wrong.
Thomas said town hall went through a thorough process of determining the property’s fair market value although “it’s unusable. It will never be used and it will never be developed as a lane.”
McLean acknowledged it is a costly error, as he is paying a 2019 price for property he thought he purchased decades ago.
“I suppose it’s the buyer beware scenario,” he said.
McLean declared a conflict of interest when the application to close the lane was brought before council.
“I want to be clear that this process started before councillor McLean was a councillor…It was brought forward in February more than a year ago,” said Thomas.
“For the owner to be operating on property that he doesn’t own, that’s just an uncomfortable position for everyone. We just want to clean up a mistake of something that was never completed and make it whole for the property owner.”
