The City of St. John’s rejected another application referred by the Town of Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s yesterday.
Like others, it involved the city’s watershed and was clearly against regulations, yet was still forwarded to council for a vote.
But several councillors question the time wasted on such matters, the suggestion being they should be nipped in the bud by the town.
And while it seems unnecessary, city manager Kevin Breen says there is a method to the madness.
“We manage the watershed so it’s good to know what applications are coming and going. We wouldn’t want to be in a situation where a municipality starts approving these and we wouldn’t know about it,” he said. “So I think just as a matter of course they send them to us for our information and approving (or rejecting) them.”
That said, Breen told council he can discuss the matter with his counterpart in Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s to explore more efficient ways to deal with such applications.
