Village argues provisions in rural plan do not allow for development, expansion in floodway zone

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SAINT JOHN -

Bruce McNeil said he is losing confidence in his efforts to secure a building permit, a permit he needs to save his business.

McNeil and his attorney, Larry Veniot, were pleading their case before the New Brunswick Assessment and Planning Appeal Board May 6 in Saint John. Peter White, lawyer for Sussex Corner, and village officials, including acting mayor Peter Wiggins, councillors Doug Tobin and Arie Ruitenberg, were also at the hearing.

"I don't feel confident but I hope (the board) can come to some conclusion that we can make this right," McNeil said following the hearing.

What he wants to make right is the 30 x 70-foot pole barn that has been partially constructed on his 10 acres off Main Street in Sussex Corner. The building, with which McNeil wanted to replace other deteriorating storage facilities on site, was erected without a building permit in the fall. Since being issued a stop work order in October, the building has sat unfinished and worst of all for McNeil, unable to shelter the auto parts he salvages from the elements.

"You have to shelter your parts," he told the three-member panel of Scott MacGregor, Oscar Boyd and Stewart Gilbert under oath.

McNeil, owner of Quality Auto Service, and Veniot had to prove McNeil has suffered unreasonable hardship because his application for a building permit was turned down.

The Village, meanwhile, outlined exactly why they denied McNeil's request.

"Sussex Corner takes their flood plain very seriously," White said, adding that there is no leeway in the village's current rural plan to allow for development in a 1 in 20 year flood zone.

Sussex Corner council wants McNeil to take his incomplete building down because it hadn't been approved. And the building inspector/development officer who testified at the hearing said if he had applied prior to commencing construction, it never would have proceeded.

Wayne Mercer of the Royal District Planning Commission, the body that issues building permits for Sussex Corner, said McNeil's land is clearly within the floodway zone.

The RDPC's director, Patricia Munkittrick, testified that the village's rural plan, adopted in 1998, clearly states that development or expansion of existing buildings within floodway zones is not permitted. Tobin stood by Munkittrick's testimony when he took the stand.

Though he did not apply for a permit at first, McNeil did eventually make application to the village to allow construction to proceed. His application was denied and so far it has cost the small businessman tens of thousands of dollars. McNeil said he had to take out a mortgage on the business in order to fight for the building permit.

"This is my life," he said. "I put everything I've got into it."

The board said they will decide on McNeil's appeal within the next eight weeks.