Newburbia

Last week, the CBC took a look at the rapidly expanding North East Avalon region, paying particular attention to the town of Paradise. They called the series Newburia, an apt name to say the least given the enormity of  new developments that have occurred and continue to occur in the region. They even set up shop in the Karwood development that’s going up along Neil’s Pond - a development that I had referenced before in this blog and am dead set against. And I’m not the only one. Just take a walk around the pond and you will see houses backing directly on to the trail without any buffer zone. God bid the developers leave a tree.

The series did shed some light on the growing pains experienced not only here in Paradise but also on towns such as Torbay, CBS, Portugal-Cove St. Philips and even the newer parts of St. John’s. Lack of public transportation, lack of recreational facilities, lack of water and sewer, lack of shopping centres, lack of convenience stores…are you sensing a theme here? But the biggest issue by far was traffic. It’s a mess and will only get worse.

Granted steps are being made to try and help the situation such as expanding Karwood and Topsail Roads, but with the rate of development, traffic will continue to be a problem and these expansions will only be temporary fixes. And heaven forbid if the mayor gets his way and closes down the left-turning lane onto the ramp to the Outer Ring Road. This despite the objections of a couple of councillors and the traffic consultants the town hired. (Why hire them if you’re not going to abide by their suggestions?) In a way, I hope he closes it down. The backlash will be enormous. (Sadly, it's sometimes the only way council pays attention.) Yet, Wiseman and some councillors do not see this. There’s a lot they don’t see.

The solution to the traffic problem is simple – slow down development. If developers and contractors want to build - and they do - stipulate that they include infrastructure, including roads and water and sewer before they cut one tree or dig one hole. But that’s not how things seem to work in Paradise. It’s the build now, fix later mantra that has gotten us into the mess we are in now. Karwood Drive is a perfect example. The road, which is about eight year’s old is not wide enough to handle the traffic – something the town knew was coming. They have been rezoning and allowing subdivisions like there’s no tomorrow. So the solution for Karwood Drive? Widen it next year at a cost of about $3 - $4 million from the town. More if you count the money from the province and that’s money that could go a long way towards, I dunno, a fire hall.

Paradise does a lot of things right. Snow clearing (in most parts of town) is good, garbage collection and the recycling program are second to none. We’re even getting our long awaited hockey rink(s). But for a wealthy town, it is lacking a lot. Poor planning, constant rezoning and the appearance of bowing to developers have to be addressed. The town needs to take a proactive rather than reactive approach to development. We can’t continue on the road we are on. There’s too much traffic as it is.