By Mark Squibb / June 29, 2023
Witless Bay council last week gave a developer the greenlight to construct a temporary road to access the site of a potential subdivision off Dean’s Road.
“This is an application to construct temporary access to assess water availability in terms of a residential subdivision,” explained councillor Ralph Carey. “So, we wanted to place a few conditions on this in terms of safety, with kids out of school, and quads, mountain bikes, walkers, and everyone else on the go.”
Some of those conditions include the installation of culverts and stop signs.
Deputy Mayor Lorna Yard said there was care taken to ensure the protection of the railway bed and the safety of the public.
She applauded the developer’s approach. “We met with the developer of this development, and I was really heartened by what he said, because it’s always a bit worrying when we get development in town, and we don’t know what the vision is,” said Yard. “We need to sell ourselves as a premiere destination, not a budget destination. And so, when we meet with the developer, just to reassure residents in the area, it seems like he has a good vision. He’s talking about doing one acre lots, when he’s only required to do three-quarter acre lots, but he’s going to do one acre lots to help with water and well contamination and all that sort of thing. He said he’s not going to clear cut the land and flatten all the trees, he’s looking at maintaining rural characteristics of the area. And I’m really happy to hear that. And if he gets through this phase with his well testing, I do hope to have a conversation with him to see if there’s something we can talk to CPAWS (Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society) about for getting friendly lighting for migrating seabirds. I don’t know the cost or what’s involved with it, but if he gets through this phase, I’m hoping, with council’s approval, we can have a conversation about improving even more on his ideas for a subdivision.”
The motion was approved unanimously, excepting that councillor Jacob Hayden was absent from the meeting and thus did not vote.
Council also approved an application for new home-based plumbing business on Greenhill Drive.
“This is a residential plumbing company servicing the southern shore and surrounding area,” said Carey. “It’s just going to be an office, and he’ll park his vehicle on the driveway, so it’s not like he’ll have a large amount of traffic there, because he’ll be mostly working out of his home.”
The motion based unanimously.
“I think it’s great that we have more business in the community, and awesome that we have a plumber in the community,” said councillor Nancy Burke.
Council also approved sheds for homes on Dean’s Road, Dunn’s Lane, and Country Path Road, and approved construction of a new home on Dean’s Road.
