Wetland controversy to be stoked again

A public hearing is scheduled on Thursday, Jan. 11 for a proposed development at the Synond West Wetlands that has raised the ire of the surrounding community.

The proposed development would see a 99-lot subdivision put in the wetland area, near Penney Crescent in the east end of St. John’s. Approval of the proposal would mean the wetland designation of the area would be revoked to allow development to proceed.

The application dates back to 1999. In October 2016, it was recommended that the proposal have a public hearing to allow public input on the proposal.

The developer has since opted to go for the public hearing before council makes its decision on the proposal, on the recommendation of then-environmental committee chair Art Puddister.

Deputy Mayor Sheilagh O’leary is a former chair of the environmental advisory committee with the city. While she won’t prejudge the outcome of the public meeting, she says the environmental committee, as well as city staff, have long been recommending rejecting the proposal.

“In August, the developer put in a request to postpone the public meeting. Obviously, we were on the verge of an election and the developer wanted to try probably with a new crowd, to see what the new council would do,” said O’leary.

“Staff and the environmental advisory committee have been very consistently opposed to having this development considered.”

The meeting has sparked an online petition on Change.org, asking council to reject the application; 634 people have signed the petition online.

O’leary says part of the reason the application has had such legs is the lack of a consistent policy within city hall for wetland developments.

While wetlands are regulated by the federal and provincial governments, O’leary says a wetland policy will be proposed in the coming months to give consistency to how the city treats wetlands.

She says such a policy would make things clearer for the city, residents and developers about where they can and cannot develop.