The owner of a Saint John construction company says he will have to lay off staff after city council turned down a 21-hectare expansion of his gravel pit off Latimore Lake Road.
John Colwell of Thomas Construction said council based its decision off incorrect information from staff and did not give him a chance to explain.
City staff told council the company has been operating without an annual excavating permit since 2015.
Colwell said he thought he had a permit because he paid his application fee every year and the city continued to award him contracts for sand and gravel.
“It states right in the city contract [that companies] must have a permit to bid,” said Colwell. “I figured I had a permit … because they gave me the contracts.”
Staff couldn’t tell council if Thomas Construction had been awarded contracts in previous years but said the issue of them not having a permit this year meant they didn’t get any contracts.
— Brad Perry (@BradMPerry) July 31, 2018
Staff said they stopped issuing permits when they found out the company was digging in an area they were not allowed to.
Colwell said he did not know he was doing something wrong until the city issued a stop-work order earlier this year.
“In 2015, [city staff] came out, they gave me a letter that said do some rehabilitation. They did not give me a stop-work order, they did not tell me I was over the line,” he said, adding the city should have issued a stop-work order sooner if they did not want him digging there.
Mayor Don Darling was asked about the application after the meeting.
“I think what council was clearly upset about tonight is that the operator, with the information we had, was operating without permits and operating in an area that they weren’t approved to operate in,” he said. “I think council sent a signal tonight that they’re displeased with that information.”
