By Mark Squibb/January 20, 2022
An appeal filed by councillor Ralph Carey to overthrow the Town’s decision to approve Stephen Dunne’s application to build a home at 32 Dunn’s Lane in April, 2021 has found favour in the eyes of the Eastern Regional Appeal Board.
Carey had to step out of the January 11 council meeting while the correspondence from the Appeal Board was read. Councillor Gerard Dunne also had to step out of the meeting, as he had appeared before the Board last year on the same issue as a representative of the Town and as a developer.
In his submission to the board, Carey had argued that the council of the day had not addressed objections to the variance application, and that the lot size was insufficient and would create a safety issue with respect to a well on his own neighboring property.
Dan Noseworthy of LW Consultants had argued the Town has the authority to approve sub-standard lots without going through the variance procedures, but noted the Town did go through the variance procedure in this case, including the public notification process.
This is not the first time an application for the property has gone through the appeal process, and the board had to consider a former appeal when making its decision.
In February 2021, the Board ordered that decisions of council made in March and May of 2020 to grant approval in principle to Dunne for construction of the home on Dunn’s Lane be reserved. The Board at that time ordered that the application be referred back to council for review.
The Board found that council, when again making the decision to approve the application last April, did not specifically consider its ruling when making the decision. So far as the Board could tell, an e-mail sent to council from Carey listing concerns such as lot size, well placement, and a steep slope, was not properly considered by council.
The Board thus determined that the Town failed to comply with its previous order, and that it did not properly review the application. Thus, the Town’s decision to approve the application had to be reversed.
The Town will have to pay Carey the $230 he spent to file the appeal.
The Board’s decision was read during last week’s meeting, but there was no further discussion on the matter.
