Northern remote cabin owners are getting a break on their Crown land lease fees, as the Ministry of Environment has capped it at $888.
A proposal introduced in 2019 would have seen annual Crown land lease fees increase to $1,500 over four years. Now the rate is frozen to 2025 when a review will be conducted.
“I think we strike that balance where we’re seeing an increase. We’re obviously not getting the full $1500 that we were looking for at the beginning of this process. But, we strike a balance of getting in the middle,” said Environment Minister Dustin Duncan.
A municipal council delegation from Buffalo Narrows raised concerns to cabin lease fees recently.
“Ratepayers in the community range from $700 to $1500 and you have all the amenities. You have all the services, the sewer and the water. So, for the amount that is being implemented it is an outrageous amount for what we use our leases for,” said Deputy Mayor Derek Petit.
Provincial lease fee rates were initially revised because they had not been reviewed since 2004, and did not reflect fair market values.
Duncan explained that the high rates might cause cabin owners to abandon their lease, forcing the government to remediate the land and remove the cabin.
“I think that everybody understood that an increase was probably justified, after more than 12 years of not increasing the lease fees, but, to from $275 all the way to $1500 in a pretty short timeframe was I think a little hard for people to understand,” Duncan said.
There are 937 remote recreational cabins and 15 remote residential sites on Crown resource land, primarily located in the north.