Eleonore Torma v. Township of Clearview and Municipal Property Assessment Corporation, 2018 CanLII 113006

Assessment Review Board

Commission de révision de l’évaluation foncière

November 22, 2018

FILE NO.:

WR 156145

Assessed Person(s):

Eleonore Torma

Appellant(s):

Eleonore Torma

Respondent(s):

Township of Clearview

Respondent(s):

Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (“MPAC”) Region 16

Property Location(s):

3301 Hogback Road

Municipality(ies):

Township of Clearview

Roll Number(s):

4329-040-001-26601-0000

Appeal Number(s):

3280057 and 3308613

Taxation Year(s):

2017 and 2018

Hearing Event No.

701697

Legislative Authority:

Section 40 of the Assessment Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. A.31, as amended

Heard:

September 10, 2018 in Stayner, Ontario

Parties

Counsel⁺/Representative

Eleonore Torma

Matthew Gardner⁺

Elizabeth A. Walker

Township of Clearview

No one appeared

DECISION OF THE BOARD DELIVERED BY VINCENT STABILE

INTRODUCTION

1The subject property is a single-storey detached residential dwelling with a problem.

2The home was built in 1978 with a building area of 1,537 square feet. The quality of construction is 6. It has a 24 x 24 garage built in 1997 and a car port created in 2000. The structures sit on 9.13 acres of land.

3The problem is that, after years of living on the property, Eleonore Torma (the “appellant”) and her husband discovered that the land upon which the structures are situated was a dump site operated by the Township of Clearview (“Clearview”) and closed in 1971.

Background/Agreed Facts

4A timeline of the known history of this land will be of assistance:

1971 – land fill (dump) owned and operated by Clearview was closed;
1974 – Clearview sold the land, originally 20 acres, to John Lamers ;
1978 – house was built, significantly without a Building Permit;
……. – property sold to a third party;
1995 – property purchased by the appellant;
1998 – appellant applied for and received consent from Clearview to sever 10.09 acres from the parcel leaving a lot comprising 9.13 acres;
1999 – the severed parcel of 1.09 acres was sold to a third party;
2009 – appellant applied to sever 1.4 acres from the 9.13 acres with the intention of retaining the 1.4 acres for a new building and selling the remaining property;
June 10, 2009 – at a meeting of Clearview Council, the appellant, for the first time, discovered that the subject land had been used as a waste disposal site;
2010 – the appellant called MPAC informing of the ‘discovery’ relating to the former use of her land. She was encouraged to file a Request for Reconsideration (RfRR). None was filed;
June 8, 2011 – Notice of Action [CV-11-428247] issued in Toronto against Clearview, the County of Simcoe, and others (Exhibit 3 pp. 17 – 19);
July 7, 2011 – Statement of Claim issued claiming damages and declaratory relief for alleged negligence, detrimental reliance, and breaches of statutory duties (Exhibit 2 Tab 1);
July 2011 – January 2012 – various Pleadings exchanged among the parties to the litigation (Exhibit 2 Tabs #2 – 7);
RfR filed in respect to the 2016 Assessment cycle;

5For the January 1, 2016 valuation date, MPAC returned the assessment at $402,000 using the