Through the mid 40’s and 50’s, my father took me trouting every May 24th weekend. He would borrow a friend’s Hillman and travel the Conception Bay Highway to the nearly impassably muddy Hodgewater Line and from there to Ocean Pond.
We had Ron Soper’s (Howie Meeker’s Sports Centre) tar paper shack and outhouse for the weekend while he and da byes took the Trouter’s Special to the secret gullies at Placentia Junction.
That was the age of Crown Land’s $25-land grants, and fundamentally, free-for-all development.
Today, through improved roads, increased family discretionary income, and outward growth of the greater St. John’s area, the age of tar paper shacks on the North East Avalon is mostly history — replaced with a full range of value in cabins, cottages, and homes. Many retirees have chosen the rural lifestyle. For many years the government had un-enforced regulations.
During the un-regulated/un-enforced period the government issued the majority of its existing Cottage Lot Development Grants. This resulted in the vast majority of Crown land properties having cobbled septic systems built too close to ponds and wells, etc.
Leaky, discarded oil tanks were a favourite septic tank with grossly underbuilt distribution fields.
An excavator contractor said to me: “I have seen it all. I buried a car for one guy, and he used it as a septic tank.”
I wonder why the government lab will not test pond water. In recent years government’s “management by reaction” to the underground mess has resulted in a requirement for engineered septic system drawings and field inspection prior to back filling. Upon approval, you can get electrical power hooked up. Meanwhile, (early 2000’s) above ground and in reaction to the whole island turning into a giant “brown-field” site, government developed a province-wide waste management plan. In 2009, Eastern Regional Services Board (ERSB) was given a mandate to “ensure the efficient delivery of modern waste services; etc.” By letter on May 15, 2014, property owners in unincorporated areas of the North East Avalon were informed that waste collection would commence in their area starting on July 7, 2014. By letter on Oct. 11, 2019, ERSB advised property owners that the waste collection service was being discontinued on Dec. 31, 2019. The chair of ERSB and minister of Environment were quoted as being pleased.
The “why” in the announcement, after five and a half years of service, is convoluted. They seem to be blaming it on un-serviced roads (not serviced by government), however, after five and half years of service, and with an “opt-in” clause by 70 per cent or more of their clients in an area, un-defined roads don’t seem to be a problem.
The truth of this announcement is that it is for “political expediency.” ERSB and Municipal Affairs and Environment rolled out the program without regard for the fact that 80 per cent of the properties are seasonal.
There was a public out cry and government caved.
7,500 properties are affected, of which, my educated guess is that there are 15-20 per cent that are full-time residents.
The 70 per cent opt-in plan is designed to fail. Hundreds of residents will be left to dispose of their garbage, willy-nilly.
I live in one of these areas off Belbin’s Mill Pond Road, off Salmonier Line. In the first one kilometre, there are five full-time residents.
We have two public garbage disposal options: St. Joseph’s which is 74-km round trip, or Robin Hood Bay, over 100-km return trip.
Hundreds of full-time residents in the affected areas are in the same mess.
Some will have relatives that they can tag up with. Dozens will drop their bags by the side of the road in the closest incorporated area, like Holyrood or Bay Bulls; garbage in ditches will accumulate, as was the case prior to July 2014.
What percentage will make it to Robin Hood Bay? Nowhere near 100 per cent. The crow population will be happy.
We are waiting for Plan C, Minister Derrick Bragg and ERSB chairperson Harold Mullowney.
Jim Radford,
Salmonier Line
RELATED:
