On Monday, February 25, consultants from CBCL Limited will reveal to the Community Steering Committee their calculations of costs to be borne by property owners if sewer and water services were to be extended to the Purcell's Cove area.
Community Steering Committee Meeting
Monday, February 25, 2013
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Captain William Spry Community Centre
Multi-purpose Room
16 Sussex Street, Spryfield
Maps of six scenarios are now available on the feasibility study’s website: One scenario involves blasting through a section of the William's Lake Backlands owned by Clayton Developments, a subsidiary of The Shaw Group, which plans a housing development in the area. The size of this development will depend on whether HRM provides sewer and water services.
In another scenario, sewage would be piped under the Northwest Arm to south-end Halifax from a pumping station near the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron.
Most alarming is the recent revelation regarding two other scenarios. They involve blasting the granite bedrock of the Purcell's Cove Backlands between Purcell's Cove Road and Herring Cove Road, through a 153-acre land lot owned by Battery Hill Developments. Norman Nahas, Battery Hill’s Vice President, is a member of the Community Steering Committee that has been guiding the sewer and water feasibility study. Given this new information, many residents feel he should declare his conflict of interest and refrain from participation. (See Section 6 of Nova Scotia's Municipal Conflict of Interest Act: http://nslegislature.ca/legc/statutes/muncpcf.htm)
The results of HRM’s own mail-out questionnaire mirrored the results of petitions collected door-to-door by residents of Purcell's Cove areas 1 and 2 in 2012. Both the questionnaire and petitions showed that a very clear and strong majority of property owners do not want water and sewer services.
In a public Open House/Charette attended by 185 residents and moderated by CBCL Ltd. consultants, residents once again made their opposition to water and sewer services crystal clear. They were united in their response to protect the Backlands from development. Of the approximately 160 residents who participated in the workshop portion of the charette, only one resident indicated he was in favour of extending services; all other residents were adamantly against.
Among residents' many concerns:
A strong desire to have the William's Lake and Purcell's Cove Backlands, an important watershed and wilderness corridor, protected and incorporated into an HRM Greenbelting Strategy
the threat of unwanted development, which in no way aligns with HRM’s Regional Plan;
financial costs that would not be justified by the benefits to resident homeowners;
disruption due to blasting; and
increased traffic pressure on an already overburdened Armdale roundabout;
There is a growing groundswell of support for developing an HRM Greenbelting Strategy. Our HRM Alliance has spear-headed this initiative and has identified the Backlands as a “hotspot” that should be protected from development and included in the Greenbelt Area. (Please see http://thechronicleherald.ca/metro/720953-green-belting-plan-progressing and http://www.ourhrmalliance.ca/williams-lake-purcells-cove-backlands)
For further information or interviews, please contact:
Catherine McKinnon
Purcells Cove Area 1 Residents' Action Committee
Tel. (902) 456-1654
catherine.mckinnon@gmail.com
Follow this issue and find more background via the following Facebook pages:
Purcell's Cove Backlands
Williams Lake Conservation Company
Our HRM Alliance
William's Lake Protection Initiative
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