Councillor updates council on Goulds development
St. John’s Coun. Wally Collins says the city’s engineers have assured him a new housing development near the end of Everard Avenue and Kieley Drive in the Goulds area of St. John’s will not affect the water or sewer systems on Everard and Kieley as some residents of those streets contend.
Work began recently on the development that will see 30 building lots formed to accommodate single-dwelling homes.
The developer, John Bidgood, told The Telegram last week he is abiding by “very strict” city conditions and has done extra work to ensure the development will not affect area residents — the work includes 30 double catch basins and a large underground storm detention chamber.
“I’m quite satisfied,” Collins, ward councillor for the area, told The Telegram Monday.
He also spoke at Tuesday’s city council meeting about the issue.
“Everybody was calling me last week in a panic. And I checked it out and nothing has changed (since the application in 2017 for the 30 lots). Nobody knows for sure what’s going to happen in any development until it’s up and running, but the engineering department here says that development shouldn’t have any effect on the storm or the sewer on Everard Avenue and Kieley Drive.”
Residents of Everard Avenue and Kieley Drive say they have suffered flooding and sewer backups a number of times over the years, and fear that after the new subdivision is connected to the system, the problem on their streets will get worse.
Carol Ann Parrell said residents have nothing against Bidgood or his development, but say the city should have upgraded infrastructure on their streets before the new development began.
“We have had problems with the sewer system since I moved here in 1989,” Parrell said. “We’ve had homes flooded out from the system backing up.”
She said the city has done “patchwork” over time, but the issues continue and residents are more concerned now that work has started on the development.
A statement from the city says it upgraded the sanitary sewer mains on Everard Avenue and Kieley Drive in 2009.
The issue with backups, the statement read, is due to existing service laterals.