Last minute permit request gets the okay

By Mark Squibb

Spaniard’s Bay council approved a resident’s application to build a new home on Battens Road last month, and while there were no concerns with the application itself, Town Manager Tony Ryan did have concerns with the lateness of the request, which had been handed into the office the same day of the council meeting.

“If a member of council happens to be talking to somebody about items coming before council for a particular meeting, I’d like to ask that you stress the fact that we have an agenda cut off time,” said Ryan. “So, if we have meetings on a Tuesday night, it’s usually a Thursday afternoon at 3 p.m.”

The incident was not isolated to the one application.

“We’ve had several items dropped off today because they’ve heard, or someone told them, that there was a council meeting tonight,” said Ryan. “And the whole purpose of doing an agenda in advance is to give council an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the content before the meeting.”

Despite the lateness of the application, it was approved unanimously by council.