DEER LAKE, N.L. — Mark Hoyles invested more than $30,000 in building materials for his cabin at Bottomless Pond and he’s not willing to just give all that up.
Two years ago, Hoyles’ cabin was one of five built around the remote body of water — south of Bonne Bay Big Pond — that were flooded when the water level in the pond rose during the spring snowmelt and rainfall.
Back then, the owners were told the water would eventually recede as the pond is supposed to have some form of natural drainage.
But that didn’t happen and last year some of the cabins started floating off their foundations.
Hoyles, who lives in Deer Lake and is the spokesperson for the cabin owners, was in to have a look at the situation on June 6.
“And it’s still climbing. My land where my cabin is to is under 19-20 feet of water.”
There’s no land to be seen around it and only one side wall is sticking out of the water.
He said the cabin owners followed the regulations when they built there.
“They approved us where we had to put our cabins. We were built back in the country away from the 100-year high water mark and now our cabins are in 20 feet of water.”
He was lucky in one sense as he was able to pull about 95 per cent of his belongings out of the cabin before the water got too high. That’s now sitting in his shed which was pulled off the land before the water got to it.
“And it’s still up on the main road behind where the cabin was to. I don’t know what I’m going to do with it, or how I’m going to get it out of there yet.”
While the province has released the cabin owners from their Crown Land leases, Hoyles thinks it should be doing more and has reached out to Premier Dwight Ball and all the MHAs in government asking for some form of compensation.
“Right now, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to afford a new cabin. To build what I had in there is going to cost me another $40,000 to $45,000.”
For the five cabins at the pond, he said the most it could cost the province is about $200,000.
“But right now, I don’t care even if they granted me new land and waived all the fees. Something to show that we haven’t got to cover every expense of building a new cabin ourselves.”
Hoyles said he’s been quiet during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it’s time to remind the province that the cabin owners are still here and still looking for something.
“Why would I give up?”
Crown Lands falls under the Department of Fisheries and Land Resources.
The department said in a statement that while it was not able to to discuss individual titles, it has complied with requests from several title holders at Bottomless Pond to cancel their remote cottage licences and forgive the current and outstanding fees.
It has also initiated a reserve around the pond to prevent additional applications, but it hasn’t committed to helping find alternate sites for the affected cabin owners.
Crown Lands provides title only and does not insure titleholders against any adverse situation that would prevent access to or use of the property, said the emailed statement.
“Just as Crown Lands can’t be expected to provide insured protection from any and all surface water floods, it can’t provide protection from unexpected water table increases.”
Twitter: @WS_DianeCrocker
