Outer Battery resident Christina Smith says the city of St. Johns is enabling her neighbor Colin Way’s actions by voting against an amendment that would have allowed for a minor nuisance bylaw. (Jeremy Eaton/CBC)
The resident of St. John’s Outer Battery, at the center of a protest against a security lighting system, says it’s disappointed — but not necessarily surprised — by the city’s decision to refuse to open a door that would have prevented the situation from continuing.
Christina Smith has been campaigning against her neighbor Colin Way since May. Wei has installed bright floodlights in his home that intensely illuminate the entire neighborhood. Smith told CBC News the lights are a health and safety issue in the outdoor battery and across the city.
All city councilors except for St. John’s Deputy Mayor Sheila O’Leary voted against a motion to ask the provincial government to amend the City of St. John Act that would allow the city to introduce a nuisance lighting bylaw .
“I was very disappointed,” Smith said Tuesday.
“The bylaw that Calgary has, the nuisance lighting bylaw, is three lines long. It doesn’t take much research. They could do that and continue to operate on the nuisance lighting bylaw and have a great bylaw when they finally get the City of St. John’s bylaw updated.”
Smith was the organizer of a well-attended protest outside City Hall that called on the city to take action. The liberal St. John’s East-Quidi Vidi MHA John Abbott attended the protest – which Smith says she and residents were moved by – and criticized the city’s response.
“I’m still amazed at the city’s response. On many levels. Just given the antics of the last couple of weeks where the deputy mayor said he was bringing in a motion and then the mayor came out to rescind that, which I really couldn’t understand and then threw something else on the table,” Abbott said.
St. John’s Mayor Danny Breen has been against the idea of the amendment since it was first introduced. He said he would prefer to see the City of St. John’s Act completely rewritten rather than amended point by point. He declined to answer questions from CBC News on the subject on Tuesday.
Ward 2 graf. Ophelia Ravencroft appeared at Monday’s meeting via video conference, citing safety concerns in council chambers due to furore over the issue on social media.
Ravencroft said Wednesday she doesn’t regret voting the way she did. She said the new bylaw would take up to a year to go through, wouldn’t be retroactive and wouldn’t force Way to take down its lights.
“Whether I voted yes or no, the existing light, unfortunately, would have remained on and we would still have been pushing for legislation under the new City of St. John’s Act,” she said.
“The question from my side is about the timeline. I hope [residents] understand that by pushing for this, by pushing for this completely overhauled legislation, we’re pushing for legislation that will have amendments, so many amendments, that will allow us to deal with not only learning from issues like the one in the External Battery. . but also many other problems.”
Ravencroft said it was her understanding that a revised St. John’s bylaw was imminent and any further consultation on an amendment would delay the process. She hopes the new legislation will give them the power to make changes themselves to deal with situations like this.
More lights installed
After Monday’s vote, Smith said residents woke up to a surprise from Way on Tuesday.
“We woke up to more lights,” she said. “We’re getting more lights. He’s putting in more lights as we speak.’
Smith said the city government’s decision to reject the proposal gives her neighbor the freedom to do whatever he wants.
More lights were installed at Way’s home in Outer Battery on Tuesday. (Jeremy Eaton/CBC)
“We feel like we’ve been betrayed by the city and we’ve been betrayed at every turn… Every single problem we’ve come to them about, it’s always the same answer: ‘There’s nothing we can do,'” she said.
“They’re afraid of lawsuits. He’s suing several people in our neighborhood for standing up to him just for saying things.”
Smith said the lights won’t keep her from leaving her home for more than three decades. She said she wants the city to put Outer Battery residents first, ahead of political discourse.
CBC News tried to contact Way through his lawyers on Monday, but did not receive a response.
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