By Mark Squibb/December 16, 2021
Things in Witless Bay have come full circle.
A 2020 decision to rescind a decision made in 2014 to petition the Department of Environment & Conservation to establish a Crown Land Reserve along the southern coastline of Witless Bay has itself been rescinded by the newly minted council.
The 99-hectare reserve would begin at the first section of Crown Land located south of Mullowney’s Lane, and extend south to the end of the Witless Bay boundary for a width of 450 metres.
The original motion to create the reserve was made in July of 2014. Ralph Carey, who was a councilor at the time, seconded the motion. The council of the day, with the exception of councilor Rene Estrada, voted in favour of it.
Six years later, in January of 2020, the council of the day rescinded that motion. According to the Town’s published minutes, then mayor Derm Moran said the department did not approve the request. He also said that private property was included in the 99 hectares and that while the property owners would have access to their land, they would not be able to build there on it.
During the November 18, 2021, public council meeting, Carey, who has returned to council, brought forward a motion to rescind the motion of January 2020. The request to rescind it, along with a number of other requests to rescind other motions, came at the behest of a resident whom council would not identify.
Carey said that while he was well versed in the history of the matter, he knew the other councilors would want some time to read up it before voting.
A request to rescind another motion, that had been made in March of 2020, was also put on the backburner by Carey. That motion, which also came at the behest of the same unidentified resident, was that council write the Department of Municipal of Affairs requesting the removal of the reserve from the Town’s Municipal Plan.
Both motions were listed back as back on this week’s agenda, and council was ready to rescind both.
“We need to meet with the province in the new year to find a solution for this that’s good to everybody, but what we need is a balance that, while it may not be totally in the interest of all the residents or interested parties, it should achieve a balance that is sound and supportable for the whole community,” said Carey. “So, we need to move forward on this, and we need to make the motion to rescind.”
The motion is near the heart of a battle that has raged for the past decade. Private landowners are concerned that the land reserve would impede access to their private properties, including the ability to build upon their own land. Meanwhile, a number of activists, including Deputy Mayor Lorna Yard, have protested development in and around the coastline as they fear development would encroach on Ragged Beach and the surrounding ecological reserve.
Council voted unanimously to rescind both motions, which in theory reinstates the actions of the 2014 council to declare a Crown Land Reserve.
