The Municipality is responsible for inspecting the shorelines of lakes and watercourses to ensure that properties in Chelsea comply with provincial and municipal environmental protection standards:

• Municipal by-laws, including Zoning By-law No. 1215-22,  
• MRC des Collines-de-l'Outaouais Interim Control By-law 137-09, which reinforces the provisions applicable to the protection of shorelines, lakes and watercourses,  
• The Règlement sur l'encadrement d'activités en fonction de leur impact sur l'environnement (Q-2, r.17.1; REAFIE) 
• As well as all other provincial guidelines for the protection of Quebec watercourses issued by the Ministère de l'Environnement. 

If your situation does not correspond to the cases described above, it is unlikely that an application for a dock permit on municipal land will comply with the regulations. 

If you already have a dock installed on municipal land, you have two options: 

• you must remove it completely or pay the penalties. 
• you may offer to donate the dock to the Municipality so that it becomes a public dock accessible to all Chelsea residents. Before any acquisition, the Municipality will evaluate the condition of your dock according to the following analysis criteria listed in by-law 1210-21.

If your private property is neither contiguous to the Gatineau River, chemin de la Rivière or the Voie verte trail, then you have the option under by-law 1210-21 of donating your dock to the Municipality so that it may be converted into a public municipal dock. 

If you refuse to cede the dock to the Municipality, or if the Council refuses to make it a public dock, it will have to be removed from the shoreline. 

The Municipality will assume responsibility for the maintenance of all new public docks and all former "community" docks transformed into public docks, just like any other municipal public and recreational infrastructures. 

In 2024, municipal officers will focus on dealing with complaints about docks that generate nuisance complaints (noise) or pose safety risks to residents and/or the environment. 

You are invited to submit your complaint to the Urban Planning Department, which will be registered in your file. According to urgency, complaints to remove docks installed without authorization will be processed starting in spring 2025. 

Applications will first be analyzed by municipal officers under by-law 1210-21, according to the conditions of approval listed therein and any other applicable municipal, regional and provincial regulations. 

Officers may then grant a dock building permit, a permission to occupy municipal land and a lease to compliant applications that meet all the conditions of case types 1 or 2. 

Applications corresponding to case type 3, those whose owners propose to donate their dock to the Municipality, will have to be evaluated and approved by the municipal council by resolution. 

According to by-law 1210-21, the main factor to be assessed in determining whether a private dock can be allowed on municipal land is the link between the location of the dock and the location of the owner's private property. The conditions are listed in by-law 1210-21 and vary according to the applicable test case.

In addition, the dock must comply with applicable provincial laws and municipal by-laws. 

The Municipality will evaluate the condition of your dock according to the following analysis criteria:

• Environmental impact
• Compliance with municipal and provincial bylaws
• Impact on privacy
• Number of residents using the dock
• Dock structural conditions
• Accessibility
• Minimum distance
• Impact on municipal operations
• Impact on riverbank stability

To learn more, see section 2.6 Cas types - autres of by-law 1210-21.

The first by-laws governing the installation of docks only date back to 1999, which means that the majority of existing docks on private land were installed in the absence of any regulations and could benefit from acquired rights.

The Municipality would recognize an acquired right if the derogatory construction observed on a private property existed prior to the coming into force of any law or regulation governing this type of construction or if it was built in compliance with the regulations in force at the time of its construction. 

It is the responsibility of the owner of a derogatory construction to submit to the Municipality valid proof documents that will allow the recognition of acquired rights. 

This is not possible. The Municipality cannot grant acquired rights for a private structure that is located on municipal land, regardless of when it was built and even if the Municipality has not objected to its existence to date. 

The owner of a dock in this situation will be invited to submit an application under by-law 1210-21, if applicable. 

Residents can prove that their non-conforming structures/constructions were in place before the by-law prohibiting them came into force. The municipal officers will analyze the evidence to grant or refuse their request for acquired rights, depending on the evidence received. Affidavits are evidence, but their probative value will be greater if they are accompanied by other documents.

The removal of non-compliant docks is scheduled for summer 2027. However, a dock generating nuisance problems (noise) or posing a safety risk for residents and/or the environment could be removed following a substantiated complaint. 

In 2024, municipal officers will focus their efforts on prioritizing complaints about docks that generate nuisance (noise) complaints or pose safety risks for residents and/or the environment. 

The Municipality will then hold a public assembly meeting in spring 2025 to invite owners of docks located on municipal land to submit an application. Subsequently, municipal officers will post notices on docks where the owner remains unknown. 

Any owner who refuses to regularize his or her dock is subject to the penalties set out in section 9.1 of Permits and Certificates by-law number 1219-22. The Municipality may also demolish the derogatory dock at the owner's expense. 

In the case of a derogatory structure whose owner is unknown, the Municipality will affix a final warning on the structure, inviting the owner to come forward before a specific deadline. If the Municipality receives no news from the owner by the set date, it will remove the derogatory structure and renaturalize the shoreline at the taxpayer's expense. 

Any person who contravenes or fails to comply with any of the provisions of the by-laws commits an offence and is liable, in addition to the costs of each offence, to a fixed fine of $1,000 if the offender is a natural person or a fixed fine of $2,000 if the offender is a legal entity. 

In the case of a repeat offence, within two years of conviction for the same offence, the offender is liable, in addition to the costs for each offence, to a fixed fine of $2,000 if the offender is a natural person or a fixed fine of $4,000 if the offender is a legal entity. 

Where an offence lasts more than one day, the Municipality will count as many separate offences as the number of days or fractions of a day it lasts, and these offences may be described in a single charge. 

Ultimately, the Municipality may remove any non-conforming and unauthorized structure at the owner's expense. 

If you believe that an administrative error has occurred, please contact permis@chelsea.ca. 

In exceptional situations where municipal bylaws cause serious prejudice to the owner, it is possible to ask the municipal council to consider an application for a minor variance. The request must meet the admissibility criteria set out in the Act respecting land use planning and development. For more information, please visit the Web page Minor exemption. 

If no analysis error has been made, if a minor variance request is not admissible, or if the municipal council has refused your request for a minor variance, it is no longer possible to challenge the decision. 

No, the Municipality will treat dock permit applications like any other form of permit application (house, balcony, garage, etc.); on a case-by-case, first-come, first-served basis. Owners are invited to start submitting their dock permit application in the spring of 2025. 

The Municipality will grant the owner a limited period to remove the derogatory structure at his own expense. If the deadline has passed and the owner has not acted, the Municipality will remove or demolish the derogatory structure at the owner's expense. 

If the owner is unknown, the Municipality will remove the structure at the taxpayer's expense. However, if the owner is known, the invoice for this work will be sent to him or her. The total cost to be covered by taxpayers is unknown at present, as it will depend on the number of non-compliant docks to be removed.