Council is considering an amendment to the St. John's Development Regulations to change Section 4.10(1) respecting buffers for waterways and tributaries. The purpose of this amendment is to clarify how waterway buffers apply where streams or tributaries enter bridges or culverts.

Under the current regulations, a minimum 15-metre buffer is required around waterways and tributaries identified on Maps 4 and 5 of the Development Regulations. However, where an open waterway flows into a bridge or culvert and continues underground, the buffer extends beyond the entrance to the culvert or bridge and remains on the ground surface, including over roads.

The proposed amendment would clarify that the buffer ends where the waterway enters a bridge or culvert, rather than extending over the land above the underground infrastructure. Buffers would continue to apply in areas where flood risk exists, such as where a floodplain overtops a road. The intent of this amendment is to continue protecting waterways and tributaries while preventing situations where a buffer extends over land and unnecessarily restricts development in areas where a waterway is contained within a bridge or culvert.

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