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Showing posts from April, 2013

Amending We Will Go -- Assessing the Cost of Changing the Municipal Plan

Clarenville's latest Municipal Plan   was proclaimed just over a year ago after a fairly comprehensive consultation and development process.  Essentially the Municipal Plan process maps out how the town will grow for the next decade by establishing a vision and regulations for that growth.  According to the legislation:  the council responsible for that area shall proceed with the development of a municipal plan and development regulations.`... The plan shall: (a) include a statement of the objectives of the plan; (b) indicate the policies to be implemented under the plan; (c) divide land into land use classes and the use that may be made in each class and shall include prohibited uses of land; (d) include proposals for land use zoning regulations; (e) include proposals for the implementation of the plan; (f) provide provisions with respect to non-conforming uses; and (g) provide for the development of the planning area for a 10 year period. Since the latest edition

Economic Development Officer? If we don't know what, will we get it?

Have you ever tried to measure something without any form of measuring scale?   It’s hard, and if you are the person who's being measured it’s even harder.   That is the challenge that the Clarenville Town Council is facing as it contemplates hiring yet another Economic Development (ED) Officer.     (Clarenville has now had three ED officers in as many years) This  issue was contemplated at this past Tuesday evening’s Council meeting.  The question came up – What exactly have these Economic Development Officers done?      Rightfully, this provocative question prompted considerable debate around the Council table – unfortunately that question was never really answered (the fact that the was no articulate answer to this question with three years of experience for the position indicates that there is almost certainly a management issue at play here).  That said, I would argue that Council is looking for the answer to the wrong question. (You can listen to the April 23 meeting on

Clarenville Celebrates Volunteer Week 2013 - April 21st to 27th.

Every day, volunteers in our Town are busy working to make our community a better place to live. Every single one of them - are there are lots - do this without expectation of anything in return.   Volunteer service awards were handed out in recognition of contribution to the Community. The recipienets were: 1. Marjorie Alexander 2. John Baker 3. Harry Maidment 4. Caroline Bungay 5. William Day 6. Myrtle Elliot 7. Lydia Fewer 8. Yvonne Godfrey 9. Herb Goldsworthy 10. Garry Gosse 11. Ed Hiscock 12. Pat Humby 13. Cassie Ivany 14. Judy Northcott 15. Viola Peddle 16. Joliffe Quinton 17. Jessie Reid 18. Bert Roberts 19. Robin Rodway 20. Edith Ryan 21. Pearce Ryan 22. Amelia Stanley 23. Major Annette Vardy. This year's theme of Volunteer Week is "Let's Make Some Noise!" and it was evidenced at the celebration of volunteers that the Town and the Clarenville Area Recreation Association hosted. See for yourself...

Gas Prices - How can you explain a 40 cent a gallon difference?

The Esso on Memorial Drive in Clarenville @ 137.9 The Esso on Newfoundland Drive in St. John's @ 129.4/ltr Reports are coming out this morning that the price of gas will be going down by up to 4 cents a liter tomorrow in the weekly Thursday gas price setting shell game.  So WAIT AND  BUY YOUR GAS TOMORROW!! But my concern about gas goes beyond un-explainable yo-yoing of gas prices. My concern lies in that fact that there is almost a 10 cent a liter difference between the price of gas in Clarenville and the price of gas in east end St. John’s.  No doubt we have the Costco Corporation to thank for driving their immediate competitors’ prices down, but when the difference is sustained for such a long period of time it gets me thinking that there is something wildly wrong and sinister about gas pricing in this province and more particularly, in our town.  If gas companies can afford to keep their prices significantly lower in St. John’s for such an extended period of t

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