LAUNCESTON City Council will spend $10,000 on obtaining senior legal advice to determine whether a fence that infringes on a Trevallyn public walkway should be removed.
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Property owners Christine and Rodney Smart were told by the council in 2012 that they had 21 days to remove the 30-metre private fence which encroached less than one metre on to the walkway between Gorge and South Esk roads.
The order followed a 2010 court decision that found the path was a local highway, or legal roadway.
Council general manager Robert Dobrzynski said the council had wanted to sell the enclosed section of public walkway to the Smarts but was now bound by the court decision.
He said the council would not seek to overturn the Magistrates Court decision in the Supreme Court if it was advised the lane was a legally-defined local highway but it would if it was advised that it was not a local highway.
It is estimated that a Supreme Court hearing could cost the council $30,000.
Alderman Rosemary Armitage, at yesterday's council meeting, was the only alderman to vote against a recommendation to pay $10,000 for senior legal advice, arguing that the matter was destined for the Supreme Court regardless.
Mrs Smart last month said it would cost her at least $35,000 to shift the fence within boundary lines. She said she had legal advice that the path was not a legally-defined local highway and was prepared to argue this in the Supreme Court.