Neighbour dispute results in big wall

It’s a modern day Hatfield verses McCoy dispute between neighbours and it is out of control. One side complained about a mound of earth — the other side said the neighbours are too noisy. The drastic solution for one of the waring neighbours was to build a concrete barrier so big it can be seen from space.

That’s right — you can see it from space.

A giant concrete wall separating two properties on Southcott Drive in Milton. It all started in 2008 when Tim and Marilyn Syer say they complained to the town about a mound of earth on their neighbour’s property that allegedly caused water to pool on their backyard.

Tim Syer: “It’s spite. We asked the town to intercede because of the burm and they took great umbridge with that.”

The Hughes family was not available for comment. But Milton town councillor Brian Penman says the Hughes had legitimate noise complaints and they erected a sound barrier only after the city by law officers and police failed to act.

“There were generators running, parties into the night, motorcycles and an abundance of noise that went late into the night.”

The Syers dispute that: “We believe the noise complaints are fabriacted just to justify the wall.”

Justify it because the town of Milton now says this wall is more than a metre higher than the towns fence by-law allows. The Hughes pleaded guilty in 2012 to violating that by-law and were fined $100.

It took weeks to build this wall. It’s 21-feet high and three hundred feet long. So the real question is, why did the town allow it to be built in the first place?

The Syers say they asked the town to put a stop work order on it in 2008 but to no avail.

Councillor Penman says the Hughes constructed a sound barrier not a fence: “It’s my understanding Mr. Hughes asked what constitutes a sound barrier and there was no sound barrier law so he proceeded to build a sound barrier.”

Whether fence or sound barrier, it was erected without permits from Conservation Halton as well.

Ken Phillips is CAO with Conservation Halton: “In our regulations you cant put anything in a flood plain or potential flooding area, so in this it’s case the last 12 metres of the wall that required set backs. We would want the final 12 metres removed.”

The Hughes asked the town for a minor variance to allow the wall to stay put. It was denied. They appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board. That hearing was adjourned on May 21st. Meanwhile, it’s almost seven years later and the wall is still here.

They Syers believe the town is trying to negotiate some sort of compromise with the Hughes family. There’s been some talk of having them remove the top two rows of the wall as well as the last 12 metres. But the Syers say this wall was built without any of the proper permits and the town probably wouldn’t have approved those permits anyway. So they want the whole thing torn down.