The Brad Sinclair Team, Rural Real Estate-Buy, Sell, Invest.

Tuesday, April 5, 2022

What is a Flood Plain and Shoreline Erosion?

Do you know what a floodplain is? More importantly do you know what a floodplain is before you purchase a waterfront property? Well, if you don’t know, stay with me here for a minute.

My name is Brad Sinclair, and let me help you buy or sell your waterfront property. So what is a floodplain and why should you care?

Floodplains are the flat, barren or vegetated areas at the edge of lakes, streams and rivers. Floodplains are usually at or near the same elevation as for example the top of the river bank or the high water mark of a lake. Some flooding can be expected every year. All rivers, lakes and streams flood at one time or another. Usually flooding occurs during the spring run off or after an extreme rain fall.

Building on Flood Plains is now extremely restricted. No one wants to have their basement turn into a swimming pool every spring. But many older builds were built on flood plains, something your Realtor should warn you about before you purchase a waterfront property. You can assess the danger zone yourself by keeping an eye out for evidence of high water marks, past basement damage or the most obvious the central air conditioner on a four foot stand, don’t laugh, I have seen it!

In todays codes in Ontario there is a minimum distance, called a setback that a building now can be built from a lake or river. The setbacks are regulated by the local municipality but only have been enforced in the last 20 years or so. Also, for septic tanks every municipality has guidelines on minimum setbacks and clearances for septic system absorption areas. Again, these are things you should be looking into before purchasing.

Floodplains are prone to shoreline erosion. To help prevent erosions from flooding, leave your shoreline as natural as possible. There is a natural price to pay if you want to remove vegetation or trees. Vegetation and trees are essential for maintaining the integrity of the shoreline and help stop erosion. I have seen limestone break walls used as a natural looking way to stop erosion. Just be sure before you start the work proper permits in place!

Brad Sinclair

Team Lead “The Brad Sinclair Team”

Sales Representative

Royal Heritage Realty, Brokerage

Visit my website! www.bradsinclair.ca

Call Or Text me 705-927-6236

Your Cottage Country Inside Source

Waterfront-Commercial-R.E. -Investing

Friday, September 17, 2021

Why shoreline road allowances are so important to have knowledge on when purchasing your waterfront dream!

First of all, what is a shoreline road allowance (SRA)? Well, in the late 19th century the Crown instructed their surveyors to lay out 66-Foot road allowances along the banks of lakes and rivers in Ontario. These road allowances were used for logging and transportation of goods. Today, there is very little use, if at all commercially for the road allowances. Since road allowances were no longer of interest to the general public for commercial uses the road allowances were turned over by the Crown to the individual municipality the lakes were in. This leaving the road allowances being owned publicly.

Over the years individual land owners were offered to purchase the SRA from the municipality to have exclusive use. Having ownership of the SRA would mean there would be less restrictions the seller would have on usage and building. Many did purchase the SRA, many did not. In the past municipalities would not enforce rules so many cottages, boathouses and docks were built on these SRA’s. In todays tighter enforcement and environmental protection, problems can now arise with current and future usage if the SRA is not owned. That said “riparian rights” does say you could build a dock on the SRA, for example and enjoy it without any problems.

Closing or purchasing your SRA was always an option at anytime as long as land owner was willing to pay the costs of purchase plus a purchase price to the municipality. No one could purchase the SRA other then the abutting land owner. There is an application process to purchase the SRA, I would recommend to approach the municipal planner about any plans to do so. There are some municipalities now that limit how many of the SRA’s they sell per year as the SRA’s are future funds for the municipality. They would like to spread out the returns as rates escalate over time along with real estate values.

In some cases purchasing the SRA just does not make sense for a property owner. Existing cottages and buildings are well off the SRA. Their access is secured by riparian rights, so usage is not an issue. As long as there is no future plans to build or need the set back amounts there is no reason to purchase.

If you have any further questions, do not hesitate to ask!

Written for you by:

Your local Realtor®

If you are looking to either Buy or Sell contact me at

705-927-6236

Brad Sinclair, Sales Representative

Team Lead at The Brad Sinclair Team

Royal Heritage Realty

Your inside source for cottage country waterfront real estate

Saturday, September 4, 2021

PAVING YOUR DRIVEWAY FOR CURB APPEAL AND FUNCTIONALITY

We have been in our new house for 13 months now. One thing we missed from our last house is a paved driveway. A paved driveway keeps the house clean, the curb appeal of the house is high and a large surface for the kids to play on. I had a knock on the door the other day with a young lad asking if I would be interested in having my driveway paved. You are always a little suspicious of a guy knocking on your door offering his services so I did what I do. Chat.

After chatting with the young lad I was very impressed with him. He was personable and a nice kid. I felt comfortable in hiring his family to do the work. The company is HJM Asphalt Paving 519-643-6885. They did a wonderful job. I would highly recommend! Check out how much better our home looks with the paved Drive.