By Craig Westcott/March 31, 2023
Bay Bulls won’t be participating for now with other municipalities on the Northeast Avalon in the creation of a new plan to govern development throughout the entire region.
Town Manager Jennifer Aspell explained the item was on last week’s public council meeting agenda because Bay Bulls was recently notified by the provincial Department of Municipal Affairs that it is interested in restarting the so called NEAR Plan, “which wasn’t really finished completely back in 2017.”
“It was originally stated in 2005 and as we know, quite a lot has changed on the Northeast Avalon since those times,” said Aspell. “Staff did reach out to the department to determine what kind of commitment was involved and what the financial cost might be. We were unsuccessful at this point in getting that information.”
Councillor Shannon O’Driscoll moved that Bay Bulls not participate “at this time.”
That was seconded by Deputy Mayor Jason O’Brien. “It would be nice to get some more details about what’s involved and what we’re meant to do and need to do before we decide,” he allowed.
“The biggest would be (to determine), how is it impacting us?” said Mayor Keith O’Driscoll.
Aspell said when the project was launched back in 2005, the budget for it was set at $771,850, all of which was spent with the exception of $106,800. The cost was shared by the participating municipalities on a per capita basis.
In order to restart the plan, Aspell said, the municipalities will have to call for a new Request for Proposals from consultants interested in leading the project. “And as it’s been almost 20 years since it was initiated, I don’t know what the costs would be, but it would stand to reason that they would be significant,” she said.
Aspell said the per capita rate that will be charged to each municipality is unknown.
Put to a vote, council voted unanimously – with the exception of councillor Jason Sullivan who was absent from last week’s meeting – to refrain from participating for now.
