A Dream That Turned Into An Ongoing Nightmare Everyone dreams of having their own home and property. A place to call their own, to invest in, to relax at,and to be proud of. It’s yours and you want to do whatever you want with it. You get the picture. Well thats not entirely true. Between The Provincial Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Town or City Council which has a lot to say or do about (our /your) properties these days. This is exactly what is happening to our (Ron & Dawn Denief) property. In order for everyone to really understand this Dream that turned into an ongoing nightmare, Ill have to start at the very beginning. In January 1984 (31 years ago) we bought our dream home and about 2 1/2 acres of land next to First Pond, Petty Harbour Road. Its like a small island, a beautiful piece of property all to ourselves, nobody can build around us. There were no property Taxes to pay. We were in between the Goulds and Petty Harbour, we had no Council. You could do whatever you want, didnt have to worry about anything, it was so great. Then a few years later the St. Johns Metropolitan Board took over and we had to pay property tax. It wasnt too bad. In 1992 the City of St. Johns took over the Goulds and surrounding areas. Of course we were in the surrounding area. The boundary of the City limits in our area is just past the Dam at First Pond on Petty Harbour Road. This is where we raised our family. In June 2014 we decided to apply for a Home Equity Loan for Seniors, mainly to do repairs to our home so we could sell the following summer. We got accepted. We had to pay for an Appraiser to give us a full internal appraisal on our property. That’s what we did at the end of June 2014. When the Appraiser returned to us on what he had found out about our property, we were appalled with what he had to say. He told us that according to the City of St. Johns City Hall our property is in an Open Space Zone, Flood Zone and Buffer Zone. He couldnt finish the full internal appraisal on our property and he decided to give back our money for his services. We were denied for the Home Equity Loan for Seniors. July 2014 I spoke to the City of St. Johns Development by phone about the situation that we have with Open Space Zone, Flood Zone and Buffer Zone. He told me he couldnt do anything about it. A week later we went to the City of St. Johns City Hall to try to speak to anyone about what was happening to our property and try to get all this straightened out. We spoke to a Development Officer and she tried to explain what Open Space, Flood Zone and Buffer Zone were all about. This is the copy she gave us which explains what we can put on our property. In the City of St. Johns Development Regulations: 10.37. Open Space Reserve (OR) Zone (See Section 5.1.4- Development above the 190 metre contour elevation) 10.37.1 Permitted Uses Recreational: (a) Wilderness Activities; that is activities usually associated with undeveloped natural lands accessible to the general public, and which are not prohibited under any government regulations. Such activities may include: hiking, swimming, skiing, fishing, berry picking, hunting and wood cutting. 10.37.2. Discretionary Uses (subject to section 5.8) (a) Cemetery (b) Park (c) Private Park (d) Public Utility (e) Outdoor Market (v) Uses accessory to Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing (vi) Small Scale Wind Turbine 10.37.3. Zone Requirements As determined by Council With regards to the Flood Zone and Buffer, the Government put those Zones on your property. She said I had to go to the Government for that. I asked for the name and number for that Government Department, which she did give us. Before we left her office she threw another bomb at us. She said that we were also in a Non - Residential Area and there is nothing she could do to help us. We couldnt believe what we were hearing. Why are we paying property tax? She replied ” on your house”. We left her office more confused than ever. I did phone the Government Department and spoke to the person involved in the Flood Risk Mapping Project for the Goulds and Petty Harbour Area. He had to call the City of St. Johns for information in my area. He told me that a part of our house was on the Flood Zone area as per the City of St. John’s. We didnt know what to do. That’s when I decided to write letters to the Mayors and Councilors of the City of St. Johns and also our MHA John Dinn. We got a lot of response back from the St. Johns City Council, but nothing was done about it. Our MHA John Dinn responded to us immediately and made a visit to our home. September 2014 we made arrangement to have a meeting with the City of St. Johns Department of Planning and Development with MHA John Dinn by our side. They tried to explain to us about Flood Zone and Buffer Zone on what we CANT Do and Can Do with our property. We cant build anything on our property and we cant add onto our existing home. The only thing we can do is repair our existing home and they will certainly help us out with a permit for repairs. The City of St. Johns Department of Planning and Development was blaming the Government for the Flood Zone and Buffer Zone. They also told us that there was part of our house in the Flood Zone. As I told them let us know what part of our house is in the Flood Zone and we would take that part of our house OFF. Maybe that would get us from the Flood Zone and Buffer Zone. With Regards to the Open Space Zone, we can try to rezone it, but it’s not likely it would happen. Why are we paying property taxes on Non - Residential Area? The answer we got was the property tax is on our dwelling. They will send a map of the Flood Zoning and Buffer Zoning of our property by mail. It took a while before we got that map, but we got it. We are not happy about that map. When we looked at the map, it shows all of our property is in the Flood and Buffer Zone. There is absolutely nothing left to our property. We couldn’t believe it. We then had a meeting, MHA John Dinn by our side with the Manager Hydrologist at the Department of Environment and Conservation Government of Newfoundland and Labrador who is responsible for the Flood Plain Mapping for the Goulds and Petty Harbour Area. The Flood Risk mapping project for Goulds and Petty Harbour is something new. This project had been approved on March 25 2013. They were researching the Goulds and Petty Harbour for 2 years prier. You can get this information online at Government of Newfoundland and Labrador flood risk mapping project. He said the Flood line is around the First Pond and the City of St. John’s added a 15 Metre Buffer Zone. He said there is no scientific basis for the Buffer Zone that the City of St. Johns Planning and Development has put on our property and it is unnecessary in our case because our property is a higher piece of land and also there is a Hydro Power Plant in Petty Harbour with a Dam at the end of First Pond on Petty Harbour Road. The Hydro Power Plant can control the water levels in the First Pond and Second pond. In times of any type of storms that we had or will have, with the extra water, the flood waters will always flow over the Dam and into the Petty Harbour River that flows into Petty Harbour Ocean. We requested a meeting with the Development Committee for November 18 2014. Again MHA John Dinn was by our side. We went into the meeting, with just 20 minutes to half an hour to try to explain everything to the Committee. It was hard, but had to be done. They told us they were going to give us answers in a few days. That didnt happen. It was during the Christmas Holidays when we received our answer by mail. It said: Please be advised that as per your request at the Development Committee meeting on November 18 2014, staff have followed up with the Provincial Government with regards to the location of the Flood Plain and Buffer for First Pond. We have confirmed with the Province that the Flood Plain and Buffer locations are accurate, and we maintain our position to not allow development within these Flood Plains and Buffers, as per Section 11 of the St. Johns Development Regulations. I was trying for a while to download 3 maps from the St. Johns Development Regulations and could not get them. I had to ask the City of St. John’s for those maps. The 3 maps were sent to me by email. The 3 maps were in the St. John’s Development Regulations. ( J-1, J- 2, Z- 1 ) St. Johns Development Regulations: Section 3 - Zones 3.1 Zoning Plan The St. Johns Land Use Zoning and Subdivision Regulations Zoning Plan, as adopted by Council and approved by the Minister of Municipal and Provincial Affairs, shall be declared to be part of these Regulations. The above Plan consists of the following maps: Map J-1: Environmentally Valuable Areas, Waterways and Wetlands, Flood Hazard Areas, Watersheds (Metric Scale 1:50 000) Map J-2: Flood Hazard Areas, Watersheds, Waterways and Wetlands Map Z-1: Zoning Map (Metric Scale 1:50 000) (Printed copies of this zoning map are available at the City’s Planning Department, 3rd Floor, St. John’s City Hall or please visit the City’s Map Center: map.stjohns.ca/mapcentre/mapcentre.html) This is where anyone can download those maps. But I couldn’t. What I had discovered was that none of these maps were up to date or someone didnt do their homework. What I mean by this is; if any of the St. Johns Department of Planning, Development, Engineering and the Minister of Municipal and Provincial Affairs are using those maps above for Flood Zoning, well those maps are not correct. If they are sitting on their butts all day looking at those 3 maps, well those maps are wrong. If they are looking for First Pond on those maps, they are looking at the wrong Pond. On those maps they have First Pond at Forest Pond Road Goulds. That is not correct. At Forest Pond Road there is a Pond and it has been called Forest Pond since the late 1800s not First Pond. Once you pass Forest Pond, the next Pond you come to is Second Pond. Those maps have that Pond, Second Pond correct. When you look at the Pond right next to Second Pond, there is no name of the Pond on it anywhere. This Pond has been and always will be called First Pond since the late 1800s. My point is that if any of the staff or anyone for that matter who are looking for First Pond on these maps they are going to see First Pond in the wrong area. They will see First Pond at Forest Pond Road, not in the right area. If I found one mistake, how many more mistakes are in those maps that we don’t know about. This to me is a very huge mistake on the part of St. John’s Department of Planning, Development, Engineering, Minister of Municipal and Provincial Affairs who uses those maps daily. I had written another letter to the Mayors and Councilors of the St. Johns City Council again as of January 5 2015. I had one response back. We are not looking for 15 minutes of fame as some people may think or say. All we want to do is tell our story as it is. It has been a great impact on our lives, our home and property. As I said, it’s like a Dream turned into a nightmare. It’s like I fell asleep and woke up 31 years later and this is what has happen. It’s a Nightmare that doesn’t go away and no one is helping me. No one should have to live like this, if you buy your home and property 50, 40 or 30 years ago there should not be any issues with Flood Zone, Buffer Zone, Open Space Zone and Non - Residential Area. What are we going to do about it? We are not going to lay back and say nothing while our property is being held hostage by the City of St. John’s and the Government. Our Property is Worthless right now because of all the Zones they have on us. WE ARE GOING TO FIGHT FOR OUR RIGHTS FOR OUR OWN PROPERTY. As far as we are concerned we or anyone who own their property should be notified of any changes with regard to Zoning by the Councils and / or Government. You could be in the same situation, if any Councils and / or Government decided to put Zones on your property without letting you know. Written by: Dawn Denief deniefd@hotmail
Posted on: Sat, 17 Jan 2015 02:42:25 +0000
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