Parking in Paradise, playing in CBS

By Craig Westcott/April 14, 2022

The Town of Conception Bay South is asking the Minister of Municipal Affairs to iron out a quirky boundary wrinkle involving a dozen or so homes whose front yards are in Paradise and their backyards in CBS, and vice versa.

The properties are located near Thompson Avenue and Haliburton Street, an area where Paradise’s boundary abuts that of Conception Bay South’s in Topsail and Chamberlains. 

“Evidently, when the boundary between the Town of Paradise and the Town of Conception Bay South was established some years ago, consideration really wasn’t taken into account over land ownership,” explained CBS planning and development committee chairman, Rex Hiller. “So, we’re in a situation down there now where we’ve got about seven or eight houses on Vinland Road, which is in Paradise, who have a significant portion of their backyards in Conception Bay South. We also have a potential development there which is predominantly in Conception Bay South, but the backyards of another seven or eight potential lots are actually in the Town of Paradise.”

Hillier said any changes to the boundary must be addressed by the provincial government, so the Town is asking the Minister of Municipal Affairs to start the process “to clean up that boundary over the next little while.”

Mayor Darrin Bent said it’s a good move. “I’m sure those backyards don’t know what town they’re in, but the owners would probably like to know that their property is in in one or the other for sure,” he allowed.

The motion to write the minister passed unanimously.

EYEING THE SLOPE

In other planning committee news, the Town is hiring Stantec Consulting Ltd., to examine the stability of the slope above Manuels River in the area of 30 Flats Road, off Cherry Lane.

The work will include site reconnaissance, geological mapping and a “desktop review.” The cost of the work is $4,500 plus HST.

“Most of you remember that sometime last spring, early summer, there was a landslide in the cliffs abutting Flats Road and actually went down onto the Manuels River Trail,” Hillier said. “Investigation of such happenings in within the jurisdiction of the Province, so the Province came in and had a look at it and in the report that they submitted, expressed some concerns about the stability of that cliff and that slope in the area of Flats Road. Unfortunately, we had one resident who was ready to start building, at 30 Flat Road, and has been delayed now for a significant amount of time. So, we want to take the provincial report and have a look at that area ourselves and get some more detail.”

Council has approved two fence applications – one for a 0.6-metre-high fence at 251 Fowler’s Road, the other for a 1.2 metre high fence at 35-37 Cluneys Road in Kelligrews.

“Normally, staff deal with fence permits, but in both of these cases they (the applications) were for side yard fences,” Hillier said. “And normally that’s a discretionary decision that comes to the committee, as these did. And because there are fences in the neighbourhood similar to what these people are applying for, we’ve agreed to go ahead with these two requests.”

The owner of the property at 7 Kingsway Drive will be allowed to park one commercial vehicle on his lot.

Hillier said the approval is being given on condition that no more than one commercial vehicle may be parked at the property at any given time.

“This is a busy area in a residential zone, and we have the discretion to approve the parking of only one vehicle in those circumstances and that’s basically what we’re doing here,” Hillier said.

And finally, council has approved an application to operate a home-based bookkeeping service at 8 Lears Road, Seal Cove.