Carbonear councillors debate the limits of their authority

By Craig Westcott/February 3, 2023

Two opposing philosophies seem to be shaping up inside Carbonear council – one side that wants more power to interpret the rules as they see fit and another that wants to uphold the law as it’s laid down.

The split appeared after councillor Danielle Doyle’s presentation of the development committee report last week. It included several orders to remove structures that had been built without a permit. One was for a deck on a home at Lower Southside Road, another for a pet enclosure on O’Driscoll’s Lane, others for sheds or extensions at Remembrance Loop, Crowdy Street and Cotter Street, and one to remove a motor home at Battery Rock.

“Just again a friendly reminder to anyone doing any development within the boundary of Carbonear and the planning area that you do need a permit in order to complete decks, fences, accessory buildings, etcetera,” said Doyle. “It’s much easier on the homeowners and council members and the office staff when everybody works together to problem-solve ways in order for people to have things on their properties. But they have to do it in accordance with our municipal plan.”

That led councillor Malcolm Seymour to reflect on the development process, which he argued ties the hands of councillors. 

“I just have one question,” said Seymour. “And this has been an ongoing thing with all of us here. It states here the MEO (Municipal Enforcement Officer) – and I’m not taking him down or anything like that, I’m just asking a question – the MEO states it makes it difficult for him to enforce the regulations when council votes against the regulations. My problem with that… and Mrs. Doyle you just said the same thing about regulations – but what I’m stating is this… if it’s only (a matter of) a committee to make a statement and an MEO to say ‘Yes, everything is okay,’ why am I here as a councillor to make any decisions? I’m tired of it.”

Doyle said she understands Seymour’s feelings and agrees council shouldn’t be expected to vote on matters that are the responsibility of other levels of government. As for the Town’s own rules, they were designed to be fair and consistent to everybody, she said. 

“What I’m saying is, I’m elected here as a councillor to represent people to the best of my ability and at the end of the day when I open my mouth to say something I’m contradicted by ‘Oh, that’s a rule, that’s a regulation,'” Seymour said. “At the end of the day, we’ve got to start making choices for the people. You’re asking this town to grow, to bring population here, and yourself personally to bring doctors here. But if we keep bringing down the regulations and we bring down the people, we’re not going to have anything come here, because we don’t want them here.”

Doyle didn’t wholly agree.

“Councillor Seymour, we can’t operate as the wild, wild west either,” she countered. “There has to be rules and regulations and we’re no different than any other municipality. If we continue to vote against all of our own rules and regulations, we’ll be in contravention of the Municipalities Act. We’re lucky that Carbonear has a lot of assets and we’re fiscally stable and we have a great relationship  with Municipal Affairs. There are a lot of municipalities in our province that we are the envy of because we’re so well-organized. I get that a lot of residents don’t like our rules and regulations. Again, I don’t like some of our rules and regulations, but that’s not my role (to break them).”

Councillor Peter Snow offered a sort of middle ground.

“If you’re going to make rules and regulations that are going to cover every single conceivable scenario out there, then you’re a genius,” Snow reckoned. The role of council, he argued, is to “cushion our residents from the regulations” when they don’t make sense.

“I’m not saying that happens a lot of times, but there are situations in which our rules don’t seem to fit, and that’s where the human element comes into play, and that’s why we’re elected here, and that’s a very important part of it,” Snow said. “Our town mottos is ‘The Town that says you’re welcome.’ I’ve run into a lot of people since I’ve been on council in the last year or so who probably disagree with that motto. I think a softer approach with people would cut down on the amount of letters going out to people and regulations not being followed and that expensive and cumbersome process of having to go to court.”

Deputy Mayor Sam Slade said since his return to council, he’s seen some things he doesn’t agree with. He suggested if there are regulations that any councillor doesn’t agree with, they should write it down and go through the Municipal Plan with a fine tooth comb when it comes up for review this year.

“Because this is the only way that it’s going to get changed,” Slade said. “My opinion here is that we’re populating the outside of Carbonear, that some of the rules and regulations that are there are quite harmful to us… I’ve got some concerns about it, I really do… You don’t need more regulations that are going to make it very difficult for anyone to build a house here or start a business here, you need to be more open-minded than that.”

Councillor Chris O’Grady pointed out the role of council is to set the town’s policies and procedures for staff to follow. The rules are also designed to give residents a say in any discretionary developments that arise, he noted.

It’s a slippery slope, he warned, for councillors when they’re knocking on doors to promise one resident something that will cause a problem for someone else. “I don’t think our policies and procedures are that much different than any other towns that I’ve seen,” said O’Grady. “And we have discretion.”

At the behest of Snow, chief administrative officer Cynthia Davis then offered council a primer on the Town’s rules, which have to meet the provisions of the provincial Urban and Rural Planning Act.   

Davis said councillor O’Grady is right in that it’s council’s job to set the policies and procedures for staff to follow.

“Those policies and procedures, once adopted, become law and you are required to uphold them,” she explained. 

That’s why it’s important for council to carefully review them and play an active role in the Municipal Plan review, she added.

Davis disagreed with any notion Carbonear is not a welcoming community. She pointed out the vast majority of permits and other applications are routinely approved by staff, and in the case of ones where there are problems, staff work with the applicants to try to resolve any issues to help them get approved. It’s only the “few and far between” ones that can’t be approved by staff and require the discretion of council that actually make it to the chamber for debate, she pointed out.

O’Grady agreed. “The vast majority go through, no problem,” said the councillor. “It’s just the problem ones we see.”