Settlement sought in 'Great Wall' dispute between Town of Milton, residents

Milton Canadian Champion

The Ontario Municipal Board will decide the fate of a fortification, separating two rural Milton homes and almost twice the height of the Berlin Wall, unless a settlement can be reached ahead of the hearing.

The noise barrier, built from thick concrete blocks and spanning almost 100 m along the Hughes and Syers mutual property line, has been the subject of a six-year dispute between the landowners and the Town.

The Towns planning department and solicitor are now attempting to reach a settlement with Peggy Hughes, who along with her late husband Trevor, made the decision in 2008 to build a 2.6 m-high concrete retaining wall between the properties.

Construction of a 3.8 m-high wall began later that summer on top of the retaining wall despite not having approval from the Town which a year later ordered the wall be lowered to comply with the regulated two-metre fence height part of the Towns zoning bylaws.

We werent even home when they started building it and you know once something like this goes up they dont want to talk to you, said Marilyn Syer, who, along with her husband, Tim, watched the forest views beyond their backyard disappear behind what they lightheartedly refer to as the Great Wall of Milton.

Peggy Hughes didnt return repeated calls for comment from the Champion and her lawyer Denise Baker said she had no comment.

The OMB hearing, scheduled to begin May 21, was postponed indefinitely after the Town agreed to the Hughes solicitors request for an adjournment.

'We can't sell our home'

The Towns Acting Director of Planning and Development Barbara Koopmans told the Champion that noise barriers are only approved for public authorities such as governments and railways, and, in this case, the noise bylaw should have been enforced if there was a dispute.

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Settlement sought in 'Great Wall' dispute between Town of Milton, residents