Juris Graney
Staff writer
Three years after Daniel’s Harbour lost a quarter of its township to a landslide it appears the wheels of bureaucracy are finally turning.
Two new subdivisions were announced last week that will hopefully return the status quo back to the town that has lost a total of 23 properties since 2007.
Six homes and three businesses were lost in 2007 and a further 14 homes were reclaimed by the government last November.
The new subdivisions, announced for tender last week, will contain 12 units of 10,000 square feet per unit, and are designated as replacements for those displaced in November.
“Engineering plans were supposed to be approved by Friday past. I haven’t been able to confirm that but we are going out to the tendering process which has been cut to a minimum of 15 days to try and speed up the process,” Mayor Ross Humber told the Pen.
“It’s been a long time coming.”
In October 2006 a small landslide forced the evacuation of four houses and one business.
“After that the government washed their hands of it and put it down to coastal erosion,” Mayor Humber said.
“They installed ground sensors in the spring of 2007, they came down and dug some holes and monitored them every now and again. But nothing happened.”
On Sunday, April 15, tons of soil slid into the Gulf of St Lawrence before a series of smaller landslides ate away at a safety zone. On April 18 the house of Bruce Biggin, who had lived there 31 years raising his family, slid into the ocean.
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