‘It’s up to us to fight for our rights,’ says Churchill
By Mark Squibb
October 20, 2023 Edition
The latest chapter in Ragged Beach’s controversial history is being written with the announcement last month the Province is declaring a Crown Land Reserve in the area, putting an end to future development of government-owned land along the coast. But it remains unclear how it will affect the several private landowners who own small pockets of property near the area.
Some 600,000 Atlantic Puffins breed just two kilometres off the picturesque beach. But the beach is also home to a controversary that has been ongoing for more than a decade, as special interest groups, supported for much of the time by current Deputy Mayor Lorna Yard, have worked to stop a couple of private landowners from building on their lots.
The Province announced in September that a new 75-hectare land reserve will protect the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve’s bird populations from potential impacts of future development.
The aim is to ensure light pollution from any future development is minimized for the Atlantic Puffin and Leach’s Storm Petrel populations that frequently fly from the islands to the coast along Witless Bay.
Quick on the heels of the Province’s announcement, councillor Ralph Carey, during a public meeting on October 11, informed council that at a future meeting he will bring forward a motion to “rezone Crown Land in the Ragged Beach Dark Coast area from Residential and Rural to Conservation.” That could effectively stop all development in the area.
Private landowners in the area are concerned about the impact the changes may have on their rights.
One of them is Witless Bay resident Ron Harte, whose family, along with others in the community, used to grow vegetables on their land in the area years ago and retained access to their property through a longstanding public right of way. Harte owns just over two acres of land there and would like to use part of it for a building lot. Harte wants to widen the right of way to access his land and has endured several Appeal Board attempts and protests by Yard’s allies including nearby large landowner Noel O’Dea to stop him. A previous council gave Harte the go-ahead to widen the road, but several protesters, including Yard, blocked a tractor from doing the work. Meanwhile, the new council, whose members ran as a slate endorsed by Yard, overturned the previous council’s decision to allow the widening of the right of way.
Harte is fearful the new conservation zone will make it impossible to access his property, even though the department has said provisions will be made for private landowners who can demonstrate previous rights.
“The right-of-way is a public right-or-way,” said Harte. “Just try putting a road on conservation land… you’ll have to get special permission from the Minister.”
Harte also claimed that residents of the area were not informed of the implementation of the conservation area ahead of time.
“There was no notice, no nothing, until it was done,” said Harte. “There were no meetings, no request for input. Nothing.”
The Attorney General, meanwhile, in a Supreme Court decision dated June 30, 2021, determined the right-or-way is for public use, and that the former “cart path” has been used by members of the public since 1948. The Attorney General determined the right-of-way has been accepted as a public road, Harte said.
Harte said he understands the desire to the protect sea birds, that can be found all long Witless Bay’s coast including in other populated parts of town, but also feels his family should be allowed access, via a publicly recognized road, to his two-and-a-half acres of property to build a single-family home on.
Gary and Ann Marie Churchill, who found themselves targeted by special interest groups when they wanted to build a house on their private land in the same area over a decade ago, have also expressed concern over the new provincial Crown Land conservation area. The Churchills later managed to build a gazebo on their property despite a campaign by Yard and her allies against it.
“When we saw the plan — and I’m assuming it was created by Crown Lands, that’s our understanding — it’s incorrect in it’s mapping,” said Gary Churchill. “In fact, it shows our private land as being a part of Crown land, and also the access, which is important for all of us, as being part of the reserve. It’s very strange. And to me, that’s completely incorrect because that’s not Crown land, that’s a public roadway.”
Churchill noted the number one recommendation of Commissioner Wayne Thistle, who oversaw public hearings regarding development in the area back in 2016, was that the rights of private property owners be respected. (Thistle also found that rumours of massive housing developments planned for the area, were unfounded. The rumours were part of a sophisticated misinformation campaign and even contained propaganda that gates were going to be erected across the East Coast Trail to prevent the public from hiking in the area.)
“So far, we have seen no attempts to respect the rights of people in the area,” said Churchill. “Crown Lands and council claim they are not impacting private landowners, but the mapping and the lack of communication certainly doesn’t bear that out…. If they are going to establish a reserve, we see no reason whatsoever they wouldn’t establish it beyond the private land.”
Churchill said the conservation area, and furthermore the notice of motion presented at the last council meeting, essentially landlocks residents like himself and Harte. He also criticized the lack of public consultation ahead of the decision.
The Churchills have requested further information and clarification from the provincial government as to the conservation map. Churchill and his wife have also requested meetings with council, but to no avail.
“The purpose of a municipal council is to represent all the people in the town, and all property owners, equally,” said Churchill. “What we would like to see is them be reasonable about this and start this land reserve after our property… I can’t’ believe that either Crown Lands or council do not realize we own the property there, and it’s up to us to fight for our rights.”
The Irish Loop Post requested interviews with Yard, Carey and Mayor Trevor Croft. The mayor directed all inquiries to Town CAO Jennifer Aspell. In an e-mail Aspell acknowledged Carey’s notice of motion, but said there was no further information available, including any information regarding private property.
Yard and Carey did not respond to the requests for interviews.
