By Mark Squibb/March 3, 2022
Two applications were denied by Bay Bulls council at last week’s meeting— and not for the first time either.
The first was an application for a new residential development along Track Road Extension.
“I know there used to be a policy where we wouldn’t continue to keep accepting the same applications,” said councilor Jason Sullivan. “We’ve seen this one twice. But in order for this application to go through, we need a proper survey… And the road needs to be upgraded to town standards in order to get to this piece of land. So, all that information has to accompany the application.”
Sullivan made a motion to deny not only the application, but also to send a letter to the resident saying council will not accept anymore applications without the required information.
Council also denied a Crown Land application for a residential subdivision on Cemetery lane West.
“This is again, another recurring application that has come in,” said Deputy Mayor Jason O’Brien. “There’s a couple of big things here that have to be assessed. One is that this area is in a provincial watershed area. As well, putting this large of a development, of over 100-plus lots, in this area is going to be really cumbersome for traffic flow. So there’s more engineering and investigation to be done. As well, some of the future plans of this thing (means) there’s some pretty big costs involved.”
He concluded that more investigation and study is needed to assess the application properly.
Sullivan added further that he believed the town had a 50-lot maximum policy in place. Town CAO Jennifer Aspell said that she wasn’t aware of the policy, but that that didn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Aspell said she would look into the matter. She also added some clarifications to the motion.
“If this is the second time that this application has been received in a six-month period, we have to provide a response to Crown Lands as one of the referral agencies that received this,” said Aspell. “Do you want it noted that we are not going to consider another application with this current information?”
Aspell pointed out the concerns about the watershed and the size of the development were raised the last time the application was before council.
“What we didn’t do the last time was to advise Crown Lands that the Town will not consider any further applications in this particular area, the same application again, unless there was additional information provided and the number of lots was reduced,” said Aspell.
Council denied the application unanimously.
A third request, a Crown Land application for a single residential lot on Track Road, was approved.
