Unauthorized Shoreline Work Cost Property Owners More Than $100,000 In Restoration Expenses, And Fines Of $15,000

by Bob Montgomery

Fines totalling $15,000 were imposed at a sentencing hearing in Provincial Offences Court in September for work undertaken without a permit in the Beach O’ Pines area south of Grand Bend.

The court imposed fines totalling $10,000 to Ryan Finch and fines of $2,500 each to Brian Finch and Georgina Finch. The fines are in addition to more than $100,000 in costs incurred by the defendants to restore and remediate the properties. The defendants had previously entered guilty pleas in Provincial Offences Court on December of 2022 for undertaking work along the shoreline without the required permits and in a location where work was not permitted. The decision of the presiding Justice of the Peace noted that the defendants “…ignored the order to stop work and they directed their contractor to carry on after receiving notice that the works were noncompliant and needed to stop.”

An important sentencing factor, according to the Justice, was “… the initial and blatant disregard the owners had regarding the potential environmental impacts when they decided to commence the work without permits and to continue those works after they were ordered to stop.” The Court’s decision outlined the defendants have “…since learned the financial, personal and community impacts resulting from their decision to ignore that order…” and “…have taken responsibility and taken appropriate steps since the December 2022 plea.”

The decision noted that the defendants would have incurred fewer costs had they taken the appropriate steps in the first place and had they stopped the work when advised to do so. The fines imposed on the Finches are in addition to $13,500 in fines imposed on contractor Richard Webb following a guilty plea entered on December 07, 2021.

Ausable Bayfield Water Resources Engineer and Provincial Offences Officer with the Conservation Authority, Daniel King, said construction and other development legally requires conservation authority approval in all regulated areas. “Most property owners and contractors contact the ABCA early to obtain the required permits but prosecution is necessary in some cases, when work has taken place without permits,” he said. Calling conservation authority staff first can help a property owner avoid costly and avoidable fines, the costs of removing unapproved works and restoring a property as well as legal costs and time in court.