HAPPY VALLEY-GOOSE BAY, N.L. — Some residents in Happy Valley-Goose Bay aren't happy with a decision by town council on the route for an extension of a well-used road through town.
The town is proposing to extend Kelland Drive to connect to Corte Real Road, at a cost of about $4 million. People who live on the proposed route says it’s too close to their homes and will create other problems.
Jamie Abbass lives on Lyall Street, directly behind the proposed road. He was informed of the proposal on Feb. 10 and had three day’s notice to provide input on it. In that time, he collected 37 signatures on a petition for a public meeting and consultation.
“We figured there would be a road behind us at some point and we’re not opposing the road, but people thought it would be further out,” he said.
The town held a public meeting on the matter on March 10. People were presented with three different options for how the project could look and given an opportunity to provide some feedback.
Abbass said he felt they had made progress on the concerns people had in the meeting and was surprised then when he was told by the town a few weeks ago they would be moving forward with a design that didn’t address the issues.
“Everyone seemed on the same page. I thought the councillors were on the same page, just by the narrative, how it went. We thought they would collaborate with us and work on a compromise. Then we received an email that said, ‘here’s what we decided,’” he said. “We’re disappointed.”
Abbass said people who live on the proposed route think there should be a larger buffer, considering it will be a straight run to a light industrial part of town and could have a lot of heavy traffic coming through. The proposal by the town has a 30-metre buffer zone with a fence, which he says isn’t enough.
“A lot of the greenery that’s in that 30 metres is moss and shrubbery,” he said. “If you walk out 30 metres you’re directly looking at the houses, there’s no cover. Did someone even come up and look at it?”
Abbass said some residents had suggested moving the proposed road back further, preserving the trees and trails that exist already exist there, creating a visual and sound barrier.
The email that was sent out said the total cost of the option with the most distance from the property would increase the town’s share by $287,463, costing an additional $165,000 over and above the preferred option of the council.
“It just comes down to dollars and cents, that’s the bottom line. The town has to put in some extra money to make something nice in our community versus going with the least cost option and continuing to develop our community in an ugly manner,” Abbass said.
Other residents concerned
At the March 10 public meeting resident Phyllis Harris also expressed her concerns about the proposal, including the distance from homes.
“That neighbourhood has been zoned low-density residential,” she said in the meeting. “People moved in there with the expectation that it would be a low-density residential area. Residential to me means I should be able to expect a certain amount of peace and quiet, enjoyment of my property, and that will be entirely destroyed.”
She said the proposal will impact the property value of people in the region and create a large amount of noise and dust.
Happy Valley-Goose Bay town engineer Randy Dillon said at the meeting the project has been talked about for about 20 years, which made Harris question why some of the houses that would be most impacted had been granted building permits and why people hadn’t been notified earlier in the process.
SaltWire Network contacted the town for further comment on the matter but was told they wanted to discuss it more with residents first.
Abbass told SaltWire on June 18 that the council had agreed to meet with residents on June 24.
Evan Careen is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter covering Labrador for SaltWire Network.
