By Craig Westcott
Bay Bulls council is handing over its authority to say yea or nay on applications for sheds and garages to Town Manager Ashley Wakeham.
Council has also given Wakeham latitude to delegate the responsibility to other staff.
Councillor Jonathan O’Dea made the motion for council to hand off the responsibility at last week’s public council meeting.
The change is only supposed to apply to applications that meet the Town’s development regulations regarding the size, height and location of the structures. Anything that falls outside the norms will still have to go to council to exercise its discretionary authority. Under the Towns and Local Service Districts Act, municipalities are required to advertise such applications so that the public can have an opportunity to comment before council votes.
Councillor Jason O’Brien seconded O’Dea’s motion, which passed unanimously.
Deputy Mayor Ethan Williams took care to question his colleagues and staff to make sure council is not giving up its discretionary power altogether.
“Exactly,” said Wakeham, responding to Williams’ query. “It will follow the discretionary use process regardless, and we can use our discretion. It may comply, but as we know sometimes, things may be in an odd area, we may not be 100 per cent sure if it can comply, so in those instances we will (advise) council we need your input here… It’s just a means to kind of cut red tape. These are simple applications, most of them are cookie cutter and can be approved in three to five days, we have a short building season here… And like I said, we’ll use our discretion when we see something saying, ‘we’re not comfortable approving that one at face value, we’ll get council to look at it.’”
