OFF TO SEE THE OMBUDSMAN
Subdivision disagreement moves to new level.
A man who is fighting to develop a subdivision has taken his case to the provincial ombudsman.
The Cape Breton Regional Municipality planning department has closed the file on the second phase of Groves Point resident Clifford MacNeil’s subdivision development plan on Boularderie Island.
“I’ve been in touch with the Nova Scotia Office of the Ombudsman,” said MacNeil. “They contacted me (March 15) and said at this point they are reviewing the file. The ombudsman can’t confirm whether or not they can help; but they are reviewing the material.”
MacNeil had launched an appeal with the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board and a hearing was scheduled for March 8 at the Cambridge Suites in Sydney. In a written decision on March 9, the appeal was dismissed due to a lack of jurisdiction and the CBRM planning department has now closed the file.
Board clerk Elaine Wagner said the case was removed from the docket after CBRM’s legal counsel questioned whether any of the issues raised in the appeal fell under the jurisdiction of the UARB.
Initial approvals for the subdivision and a road leading to it were given in 1994, prior to the
establishment of the regional municipality.
According to MacNeil, all of those approvals were grandfathered and should still be in place after amalgamation.
In a letter to MacNeil dated Dec. 8, 2015, Malcolm Gillis, director of planning and development with the CBRM, noted that although no time limit had been imposed on the MacNeils, it was the opinion of the municipality’s legal department that the development officer
at the time should have imposed a reasonable limit.
According to Gillis, back in 1994 the subdivision road would have become the responsibility of the provincial Department of Transportation. Now the road would be the responsibility of CBRM’s engineering and public works department when finished.
Also in 1994, the developer was obliged to give the municipality five per cent of the assessed value of all lots approved
in the plan to be used for public recreation purposes. That is no longer in effect.
In December 2015, CBRM development officer Sandra Bobyk informed MacNeil they had been given a one-year extension to complete the application for subdivision. If the outstanding issues were not addressed by Dec. 16, 2016 then the application would be deemed refused and the file closed.
According to Bobyk, today’s Municipal Government Act states the development officer has 90 days to deal with a subdivision application and if it is not approved or refused within the 90 days, the application is deemed refused.
She added that an extension could be provided for subdivisions.
“So, considering he (MacNeil) had 21 years to do his subdivision and was given an extra year, well exceeds today’s timelines for dealing with applications for subdivision approval.”
MacNeil contends the subdivision would create economic development for the regional municipality.
“Why they would want to kill it, I don’t know. It was grandfathered from the very beginning,” said MacNeil. “The lots are all surveyed, complete and ready to build on for on-site septic. They are approved and grandfathered by the province.
“We are just a family trying to develop a piece of land that’s been in the family for over 100 years. We aren’t developers with a pile of machinery.”
MacNeil said he still wants to finish the second phase of the subdivision, but that starting the approval process from scratch, as he says the CBRM has suggested he could do, is not an option given the high cost of surveys, inspections and assessments.