He got no support.
Rose was reacting to a recent letter he said was sent out from the Department of Municipal Affairs stating there would be no money put into further water studies for the Cold Brook area.
He said additional study has been recommended but he believes there has already been enough studying done on the area.
“There are families in Cold Brook who have had property there since before Stephenville became a town and they can’t build on it because of the restriction put on permits,” he said.
Rose said enough studies have been done and it’s time to lift the permit restriction.
“For this council to lift that restriction would be totally irresponsible,” Mayor Tom O’Brien said.
The mayor said since the town received the letter that Rose was referring to, he has had discussions with the Minister of Municipal Affairs and he was told the department is now revisiting the matter.
Rose said with the studies that were done to date he can see no negative impact from residential development on the Town of Stephenville’s water supply.
“Where’s the science and evidence to say it would be impacted? Until we get that evidence, why should we stop people from building? It’s incumbent on us (council) to lift that restriction,” he said.
O’Brien said since the town’s old municipal plan adopted in 2000 a number of things have happened relating to Cold Brook, including the Minister of Municipal Affairs of the day applying a ministerial amendment to the Town of Stephenville’s plan which allowed development to continue in Cold Brook.
However, when the Provincial Urban and Rural Planning Act 2001 was adopted, one of the changes was the minister no longer had authority to administer changes to town plans.
O’Brien said the ministerial amendment that was made stayed in force for the duration of the previous municipal plan; however, once last year’s town plan was adopted that amendment was no longer in force.
He said council wants to move the line to adjust the well protection area so development can continue in Cold Brook but it just can’t arbitrarily move it.
O’Brien said the town is in touch with the minister and the department and staff let them know that not only do they have families on hold Cold Brook, but there is Crown property there that could be sold from which they could recoup the cost of the study.
“We think the line can be removed but with no ministerial order in place anymore, we can’t let any development take place,” he said.
