Busy last session for CBS council

By Craig Westcott

The last meeting of the 2021 – 2025 CBS council last week may also have been the busiest of the term when it came to non-routine permit applications that required the discretionary approval of the chamber.
That’s because it was the first meeting in two months with two previous sessions cancelled because of the wildfires and then a major water main break.
The first item was a common one, an application for a hobby farm, this one at 38 Mercers Road in Chamberlains. Council approved the application restricting the farm to four hens and three beehives, with the stipulation that no roosters be allowed on the site. The property owner also has to submit a manure management plan, register the farm with the Province, and obtain the necessary approvals for any accessory buildings related to the keeping of animals, such as a henhouse.
In other development news:

• A small housing development on Dawes Road, in Riverdale, Kelligrews will require a Land Use Impact Assessment Report. The applicant wants to build single dwellings at 32, 34 and 40-42 Dawes Place.
  Councillor-at-Large Rex Hiller said the land is located within a moderate hazard area for flooding, according to the Town Plan, and that requires the applicant to submit a report showing how the hazards will be mitigated.
  According to background information in council’s agenda, only one submission was received in response to a public notice about the application. A resident raised concerns about the potential impact on wildlife and an adjacent waterbody, as well as traffic worries and pedestrian safety.
• The owner of a busy vegetable stand in Kelligrews has been turned down for a shed to house his produce, but council made clear the Town is willing to work with him to come up with a solution.
  The stand is located at 628 Conception Bay Highway, just across the road from Lawton’s Drugs. Hillier said the proposed 18.6m2 building doesn’t meet the development regulations.
  “Most people would know it as the vegetable stand where vegetables are stored in a bus on site,” Hillier said. “The applicant is looking to remove the bus and replace it with a shed for storage of vegetables. The location which he is asking for a permit for is not acceptable according to our regulations, so we’re recommending refusal, however we’re prepared to work with the resident to find some other solution.”
  Mayor Darrin Bent said it’s unlikely the bus meets the regulations either and the Town would like to see the upgrade happen.
  “But we need to work with the resident a bit more to find something that is going to work for all of us,” he said. “I think that is something that we can find, it’s just that right now our regulation prevents us from saying yes, and we’re going to see where we can go with the resident to see if we can find a comprise that will work for the resident and for us to do that upgrade at that property. I think it’s something we’d all like to see.”
• Council has granted “parking relief” for the new Community Lifestyle Centre to be built at 69 Gateway Drive in Kelligrews next year.
  Hillier said a building the size of the new centre would normally require about 500 parking stalls, based on its square footage. “Of course, that would be more than we anticipate ever needing on that site,” he said. “So as a result, we’re recommending parking relief.”
  The relief will allow construction to proceed based on a parking lot able to accommodate 250 vehicles.
• The developer of the Ocean Glen Estates subdivision in Chamberlains, near the border with Paradise, can proceed with phase four of the development using a different minimum building line setback than normal.
  Hillier noted the previous phase of the development also had a nine-metre setback.
  “They’re just asking that this one be the same, “Hillier said. “It’s good to see that we’re looking at another 30 odd lots in that new development. It would be nice to see that finished. “
• Council has agreed to sell a 113m2 lot at 16 Maya Place in Upper Gullies to HJR Holdings. That will enable the company to incorporate the land in other building lots on the street.
  “At one point in time it was thought there would be a walking trail or a walking path through a couple of sections of that development,” Hillier noted. “It was deemed that it would not go ahead, so this is basically land that had been set aside for a walking trail and is being sold back to the developer.”
  The selling price is $375, which is the assessed value of the land.
• Still on the subject of land transfers, council has agreed to transfer 255 linear metres of land along the northernmost portion of Terminal Road and 135 linear metres along the easternmost portion of Church Road to the Long Pond Harbour Authority.
  “I just want to assure the people of Church Road that this is not intended to be another access to the port,” Hillier said. “This is basically an emergency exit from the port.”
• The Town will consult the public on an application to rezone a portion of land at the end of Monument Road near the T’Railway.
  The land is bisected by two zones, Residential Low Density and Open Space Conservation. The applicant would like to build a house and accessory buildings on a portion of the land at 173 – 185 Monument Road and is asking the Town to waive the rezoning fees because prior to 2012, when the area was last rezoned, most of the property was deemed residential. The land is located near the former railroad track, now the T’Railway.
  “When the T’Railway buffer was developed, it encroached significantly into this property, so all we’re saying is we would rezone a section of that buffer,” Hillier explained.
  “So, a buffer would remain there?” asked Ward 3 councillor Gerard Tilley.
  “There’s still a buffer there,” Hillier said. “When we sat down to do the Town Plan three or four years ago, we started at Spruce Hill Road and came west and we normalized the buffer. There were buffers moving in and out of properties, and we normalized the width of the buffer. This property, as it turns out, is east of Spruce Hill Road, and so we missed it, and the property owners want it rezoned so that they will know how long it will take. Their concern is that if we wait until the Town Plan (is updated), it may be in another year or so before we get it straightened out.”
• The Town is looking at selling 110m2 of land that was formerly used as a turning circle on Talcville Road in Long Pond to Regal Enterprises.
  “This is similar to the one on Maya Place.” said Hillier. “Basically, the Town came into possession of this jib of land sometime ago, which helped create the turning circle on Talcville Road. Because of the new Regal development we now have a through street where that turning circle was so that property will be incorporated into a new street line of that new development. So really what we’re doing is selling it back to Regal Enterprises in order to use it in their street.”
  The Villa Nova Trails subdivision being developed by Regal Enterprises includes two new streets, Rachel Drive and Jacob Lyle Street and connects to both Route 60 and Talcville Road, thereby eliminating the need for the turnaround. The Town has taken over ownership of the infrastructure associated with the development. So far seven lots have been sold, and house construction has started.

And finally, council issued permits for a 67m2 pool house at 17 Cables Road, which is off Battens Road in Foxtrap; a 215m2 extension to a commercial building at 33 Greeley Gardens, Foxtrap; and a home-based piano and voice lesson studio at 46 Cole Thomas Drive in Upper Gullies.