Confusion about wetlands act costly for property owner

New rules for land use and shoreline property development are causing more than just a headache for some property owners on Grand Manan. Gordon Kinghorne and his father Lawson say they are out an estimated $31,000 because of what they see as a lack of coordinated information among the New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources, the Department of Environment, the Department of Health and the village council concerning new wetlands protection regulations. "Isn't it someone's job to know and to be up to date on this stuff?" Lawson Kinghorne asks, while explaining the situation he and his son have gone through.

Lawson Kinghorne purchased the former sawmill property in Castalia approximately 15 years ago. One of the first bits of misinformation he received was that, since it had been formerly developed, it automatically would be grandfathered in as open for use. Kinghorne says he has been paying waterfront taxes for the property for 15 years. "They had plenty of opportunity to do something before we invested all that time and money into it." He explains that they cleared the property in 1999 and put in a well in 2004. The property is located at the northwestern end of a wildlife area known as the Castalia Marsh, directly across from the Department of Natural Resources office.

The Department of Health approved the sewage system, and after being told by the village office that they would have a building permit by the end of the week, Kinghorne says he went ahead and poured two small foundations because they had workers scheduled to come in. Upon speaking to Byron Green of the Department of Natural Resources who was headed to the mainland that week, they rushed things "because we understood we were to get done as much as we could within the week," he says. It was not until Tammy Savoie McIntosh arrived from the Department of the Environment that Kinghorne was told he would be forced to remove both foundations and move further inland. "How close to wetland could I have been? I had to drill a 160-foot well to hit water," exclaims Lawson Kinghorne. Upon the assessment of the wetland representative, Byron Green of the Department of Natural Resources went to the village council and had the building permit stopped.

"Ignorance is not accepted as an excuse for the average citizen, but departments within the government being ignorant of each other's regulations or communications is?" Gordon Kinghorne asks. "During the early stages of the development on the property with the initial pouring of the first foundation, construction was taking place in the marsh where they were repairing shoreline erosion by removing material out of the wetland known as the Castalia Marsh using bulldozers and excavators!"

To add insult to injury, the Department of Environment now has requested a restoration of the property to a state above and beyond the few straggling trees that had been removed before they began building. Kinghorne has a picture of the property from years before he bought it showing no trees or any other foliage around the old sawmill. Kinghorne requested the Department of Environment clean up the many junked auto bodies found in a brook near the property, but nothing has been done.

At the office of Department of Natural Resources on Grand Manan, Green lays out a map that depict areas of coastal marshland on Grand Manan. The map is divided with two colours C dark green, where development may be made if a permit is issued, and light green, which does not allow for any development. Asked for a comment on what Green believes led to Kinghorne's problem, Green declines, referring the question to the Department of Environment's Paul Jordan.

Jordan says he does not know if the staffing problems of the village office may have had anything to do with it, but the wetlands act had been passed in 2004, and their department provided all New Brunswick municipal governments with that information. He comments that the Department of Environment would be happy to provide consultation as to what wetlands or watercourses there are on any property in the earliest stages of planning.

"The Department of Environment is responsible for watercourse and wetland alterations and regulations under the Clean Air Act. Anyone wanting an application may get it from the Department of Environment record office or from the Internet site." Jordan says the wetlands portion of the act came into effect in 2004 and the watercourse part of the act had been in place for several years.

"Town council didn't know what was wetland until a month ago," says Lawson Kinghorne. "They just got a map with it all drawn out."

The Grand Manan Village Council fought for special consideration on shorefront property development when it was first proposed. Being a fishing community, many people felt the shoreline was the business district of the island. Many islanders are watching with interest how the new regulations will affect their way of life.