A St. John’s family, who are suing the city for $6 million over a land dispute in the Goulds, is expressing continued frustration with the way they say they’re being treated regarding land development.

John McDonald says his family has been living in the area of Duffett’s Road near the TCH and the Galway development for generations, but in recent years their land and property have seen increased flooding and they’ve gotten no satisfaction from city officials.

The matter came to a head a few weeks ago following a recent thaw and heavy rain when the road leading to their property started running like a river.

The flooding affected their animals and caused damage.

Chris McDonald says while the problem has been getting steadily worse as neighbouring properties develop, neither he, nor his father, have seen it so bad.

He says the family wants to develop the land in question which is surrounded by developed land, but they’re being told no due to regulations that they say appear to be arbitrary and come out of the blue.

“It’s not a very nice feeling for my mother and father to work so hard their whole life and to watch others be able to develop and build houses and we be on the same road, same street…directly across from one another, and we’re not allowed. We meet the same criteria as the other person,” says McDonald “but yet we’re told ‘no.'” That says McDonald is hard to accept with “a nation-wide housing crisis.”

The McDonalds are echoing concerns recently raised by developers Charlie Oliver and Danny Williams about what they say are increasingly arbitrary and changing regulations related to development in the capital city.