Legal road access is a fundamental requirement of any development approval. In Billings v. Sioux Narrows-Nestor Falls, 2023 CanLII 43648 (ON LT), the Township asserted a lack of legal road access for the proposed short-term rental use of the applicant/appellant's cottage property as one ground for its denial of a zoning by-law amendment application. The preliminary motion was granted on the basis that the appeal was premature given the dispute of the parties as to the status of the Crown road and private road providing the applicant/appellant access to his lands, with permissions of the Crown and abutting private owner. The Tribunal held that only the Superior Court of Justice can make determinations as to the rights of road access to a property seeking re-zoning and only then can the Tribunal determine if a lack of legal road access is a dispositive preliminary issue on a Tribunal appeal. The onus rests upon the applicant to solidify clear legal access to its property at both the application and the Tribunal appeal stage.