Town caught between divided neighbours

By Mark Squibb

A dispute between two neighbours in Paradise has gone to the dogs, and, allegedly, the rats.

Canterbury Road resident Betty Spurrell has been feuding with her neighbour Jackie Power for years over the latter’s unregistered home-based dog grooming business.

Power’s salon has been operating without a permit since at least 2020. Spurrell contends the dog grooming business attracts rats.

“I’m at the point where enough is enough, and I hope somebody can help us,” said Spurrell, who lives on Canterbury with her husband Doug. “Rats are a health hazard. Rats bring disease. No one should have to deal with this.”

The Town of Paradise has sent staff to the area a number of times but have not found any evidence of rats.
But Squirrel maintains the rats are there, and plenty of them.

“I’ve told people (relatives) that wanted to come down and visit Newfoundland, ‘You’re more than welcome to come, but you won’t be able to stay at my place,’” said Spurrell. “You can’t put any furniture out. And you won’t feel comfortable knowing that you could be out and a rat might flicker across… We enjoyed having patio furniture out and water fountains and lanterns and ornaments and all that stuff that goes with it. I can’t put that out now for fear of rats. Rats will be walking over it.”

At one point, Spurrell and Power nearly ended up in court, when Power tried to put a stop to Spurrell’s allegations, but the matter was eventually dropped.

Power applied for a home-based business permit in June 2020. The council of the day denied the application on the grounds it would “negatively affect the amenity of the area, and it is therefore not consistent with the Town of Paradise development regulations.”

Councillors at that time, including now Mayor Patrick Martin and Deputy Mayor Kimberley Street, noted the Town had received multiple complaints, including noise and smell complaints, from an unregistered business at the site, and they would not support the application.

“I’m voting to refuse this permit because there have been multiple concerns brought to the table at a committee level in regards to residents in the area experiencing noise and issues of smells from the animals – dogs— and because these concerns were already an inconvenience to residents in the area, and there is no business currently authorized at this location,” said Street during the 2020 meeting.

Following council’s refusal, Powers apparently continued grooming dogs, and council issued a stop work order in October 2020.

Councillor Alan English brought the matter forward again in May 2021. English said he had been in contact with residents on Canterbury Drive and the home-based business was still operating despite the stop-work order. He added that rats remained an ongoing problem in the neighbourhood. Director Glenn Alton reported that orders had been served on the property and the resident had filed an appeal with the Eastern Regional Appeal Board. Mayor Bobbett asked that residents be informed that the Town was taking the matter seriously and would take action as required.

The appeal board tendered its ruling the following November.

“The Board confirms that the Town of Paradise was justified and acted in accordance with the Urban and Rural Planning Act, 2000, and the Paradise Municipal Plan and Development Regulations when, on October 29, 2020, it issued to Jacqueline Power the Order ‘that all home-based dog grooming operations cease within 14 days of the service of this order’,” read the decision.

Despite that, Power continued grooming dogs, and has continued to do so, regularly posting photos of her work on the Facebook page ‘Opal Reg’d Shih Tzu and grooming Jackie Dooley-Power.’

“The Town of Paradise is very much aware of what it is I do and what I don’t do,” said Power, when contacted by The Shoreline. “I only returned your call as a courtesy… Everything between me and the Town of Paradise is good. I have no concerns.”

When asked if she has a business permit, Power said her advice was to call the Town of Paradise.
Staff at the Town, however, confirmed no permit had been issued for a home-based business at 49 Canterbury Drive.

Power said that she would not go ‘point-to-point’ with the Spurrells, adding that a story about her grooming business would be of little interest to the general public.

“The Shoreline is a pretty decent paper,” said Power. “Who in CBS or Bay Roberts, or Logy Bay, is going to care when my own neighbours, whose dogs that I groom, don’t care? So, who’s going to care?”

Mayor Patrick Martin, who seconded the motion to refuse the application back in 2020, said the Town has taken all necessary steps.

“A permit has not been issued for a home-based business at 49 Canterbury, that is correct,” said Martin. “I can confirm there was an order issued on the property. The case was presented to the court, the decision upheld, and the order remains in place, and the Town has taken all the necessary steps in this situation.”
Martin said the business presents no public safety concerns, but added the stop work order will remain in place.

“I’m aware of the concerns that have been raised about rodents in the area, and I can tell you that the Town has looked into the matter when the concerns have been raised,” Martin said, adding staff have visited the area multiple times and found no signs of rodents.

An ATIPPA request published in May 2023, meanwhile, shows that a number of residents at the other end of Canterbury Drive, Including Drummond Place and Hillsdale Crescent, had emailed the Town to complain about rats. Most of those residents laid the blame on chicken coops in their neighbourhood. In June of that year, council issued an order to the owner of Cedar Plaza and NoFrills in Paradise to clean up garbage and debris around NoFrills and to exterminate rodents on the premises, which is located closer to Spurrell’s end of Canterbury.

As for Spurrell’s complaints, Mayor Martin said the Town could send the dog groomer another compliance letter. Other than that, there’s not much more to be done.

“The order is going to remain in place for now,” said Martin. “We’ll deal with it if the property is sold. If there are any other concerns that came forward, I guess we’ll deal with them as they come in. But as of right now, this is where we’re to.”