ARICHAT: Council had no objection to a quick claim deed from a property owner in the municipality.
The committee-of-the-whole meeting of Richmond Municipal Council on March 9 reviewed correspondence from municipal revenue manager Clint Samson regarding a Quick Claim Deed for a piece of land in Richmond County.
The land in question once housed the Brymer School in L’Ardoise and has a deed dating back to 1879. The municipality’s lawyer requested council execute the claim, Warden Brian Marchand said.
Chief Administrative Officer Don Marchand told council the school was closed many years ago and adjacent property owners made the request of the municipality.
“It appears to be encased in a property that these people are asking to receive a Quick Claim Deed for through their lawyer,” Marchand explained. “There are options for them to acquire the property without coming to the county… there are a number of ways they can do it. I guess this is probably the easiest way for them to do it.”
When asked by district 4 councillor Gilbert Boucher whether the municipality actually owns the land in question, the CAO said proving that would cost too much.
“We could prove title to it for sure, and of course the costs associated with trying to basically identify that property would far outweigh any benefit for us,” Marchand responded.
District 1 councillor James Goyetche agreed that the interest of the municipality is small in this case and he moved that council accept the recommendation to process the claim.
“The school itself, the Brymer School, was on the wrong piece of property in the first place,” Goyetche noted. “I agree with the CAO, if we have to go through the process of getting it surveyed and the whole process done, even the appraisal is something that we don’t know we even own.”
During a special emergency meeting on Monday afternoon in Arichat, council accepted the recommendation of the committee-of-the-whole to execute the Quick Claim Deed.