Nippers Harbour resettlement not off the table, says Keith Hutchings

Municipal Affairs Minister Keith Hutchings says resettlement is still an option for Nippers Harbour residents, but only if the provincial government finds it fiscally beneficial.

The former capital of Green Bay voted on resettlement two years ago with 98 per cent saying it was time to leave. The community of 90 has remained in limbo while the Newfoundland and Labrador government completed a cost analysis.

• Nippers Harbour residents want to leave, while government says no 

"The cost benefit analysis has to be in favour of savings at the end of the day," Hutchings said in an interview with CBC Radio's Central Morning Show.

According to Hutchings, residents could be given between $250,000 and $270,000 in a relocating costs. As it stands, he said it isn't in the province's best interest to pay to relocate. 

"We sympathize with the fact that it's not the decision they had wanted," Hutchings said.

But the Minster said his decision isn't set in stone. Mayor Ted Noble believes the province is underestimating the cost of maintaining the community's gravel road, and the province's cost analysis doesn't add up. 

Hutchings said his department has been been in contact with the mayor and is working to get the most accurate estimates possible. 

"As there's other information that comes forward, we're willing to reassess and to look at it," he said. 

"But obviously there's a policy and we have to stay through that because at the end of the day, there needs to be returns back to the provincial treasury if we're going to invest significant dollars to relocate a community and those community residents."

The Minister said he's also working to shorten the length of time it takes the province to get back to a town about its resettlement application.