Bob Delaney of Bayside Development believes the Stephenville town council is setting a dangerous precedent by making amendments to their town plan to allow development in the Hillier Avenue area.
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Council approved the amendments in a four to two vote at the regular general meeting last Thursday that amongst other things removes the requirement for this development to be connected to municipal water and sewer services.
He said when Bayside Development put in its subdivision it agreed to do what was needed under the town plan and not only put in pavement, water and sewer services but also a lift station for sewer.
Delaney said basically what council is doing by removing these conditions for a development is setting a precedent that will be detrimental to the town in the future. He said making changes to the town plan was the wrong thing to do and that regulations regarding water and sewer should have been kept.
“Down the road, those building homes in that area will likely be demanding water, sewer and pavement and wanting the town to pay for it,” he said.
Delaney said Hillier Avenue is located right on the back of a subdivision (Stephenville Land Assembly) that was done to standard and questioned why such standards are now being changed.
He said this is opening the door to other subdivisions within the Stephenville boundaries to developing the same way as there is lots of other property that could go under Country Living Residential or Rural, including along the Hansen Highway.
Delaney questions what will happen if there is a fire in the area that’s developed that is not serviced by a waterline and fire hydrants. He said a pumper truck load of water is not going to help much in the event of a residential fire.
“To me, it’s a step backward for Stephenville. I’m disappointed with council as all standards are gone out the window,” he said.
Delaney said other places in Western Newfoundland, like Corner Brook and Deer Lake, have their standards set and Stephenville should be sticking to the standards they had in their plan.
He said this is going to reduce retail property values in Stephenville since the playing field is no longer level since properties in these locations will be half the price of others when you can develop the land for basically nothing.
Delaney still has two lots in his development that haven’t sold yet and fears they will be more difficult to sell after this. He said other developers have put a lot of money into their subdivisions and will likely have trouble selling lots already developed.
He said Stephenville is not some small rural Newfoundland community and shouldn’t be treated as such.
“This is something that council should never have been done,” he said of council’s decision.
