WHEREAS during the late 1800s and early 1900s, the provincial government and municipal governments gazetted roads by placing a notice in the BC Gazette specifying the location and width of the road; AND WHEREAS pursuant to Section 115 of the Land Titles Act, with support of a Form 12, the Land Titles Office will, on application from the provincial Ministry of Transportation, convert a provincial gazetted road to a dedicated road, but will not recognize an application from a municipality to convert a municipal gazetted road to a dedicated road: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Union of BC Municipalities request that the provincial government enact legislation to require the Land Titles Office to recognize and accept applications from municipalities to convert municipal gazetted roads to dedicated roads.
The Land Title and Survey Authority The Land Title and Survey Authority of British Columbia supports this Resolution as it is in the public interest to clarify boundaries and the extent of ownership under a certificate of title. Municipalities had the ability, under the statutes of the day, to establish roads by gazette notice and a number of roads were established in this manner. Roads established by gazette notice are not removed from the title to the property until further legal steps are taken similar in nature to those pursuant to section 115 of the Land Title Act. Legislation similar to section 115 is one option to resolve this problem. Another option that could be explored would be an amendment to the Expropriation Act to specifically accommodate this problem with a new procedure.