Dartmouth Cove campaigners concerned about provincial bylaw review

The province will review a controversial Halifax Regional Municipality bylaw that prohibits infilling activities in Dartmouth Cove. 

Halifax council voted to approve the bylaw on Oct. 7.

Premier Tim Houston said last week that the bylaw is “ambiguous” and “political.”

“It’s not actually clear,” he said.  

But Jill Brogan, a founder of Save Dartmouth Cove, said last week that the premier is going against many locals who worked hard to protect the cove.

“We take exception to his comments suggesting that (the bylaw is) ambiguous and that (it) arose through a pretty political process,” she said.

“We are a determined group. There are many, many of us. The public has spoken loud and clear. When they all came out to the public hearing that the city had to bring in those bylaws, we had over three hours’ worth of people speaking primarily in favour of protecting the cove,” Brogan said in an interview.

Nova Scotia company Atlantic Road Construction and Paving (ARCP) gained approval from Transport Canada to conduct the infilling. The company wants to infill about 24,000 square metres in the cove with material from a nearby hospital expansion.

Brogan says the premier has a personal connection with ARCP owner Tom Hickey.

“We think it would look awfully badly on the premier to go ahead and approve something, turn over the will of council, the will of (the) public, for the private interest of his friends.”

When asked to confirm whether there is a personal relationship between Hickey and the premier, ARCP did not respond to The Signal by deadline.

Liberal MLA Iain Rankin said, “This is a pattern, that this government is loyal to insiders and friends and not protecting the public interest.”

Taking questions after a news conference on Thursday, NDP Opposition Leader Claudia Chender said, “I’m not sure why the province would intervene on this.”

On Friday, Chender posted a letter to the minister of municipal affairs, urging him not to overturn the Dartmouth Cove bylaw: “The people of Dartmouth have been clear: they want Dartmouth Cove protected and their voices heard. There is no rationale for doing otherwise.”

Transport Canada, which has jurisdiction over Dartmouth Cove, released an amended approval for infill activities in Dartmouth Cove in late October. In a letter to HRM Mayor Andy Fillmore from the agency that Save Dartmouth Cove shared on social media, Transport Canada noted that “It’s the owner’s responsibility to comply with any other applicable laws and regulations.”

Chender says the decision to review the bylaw shows a disparity between neighbourhoods in Halifax Regional Municipality.

“A very similar bylaw was passed for the Northwest Arm, which is full of very wealthy residential homes … but in Dartmouth Cove, which serves as a very important, active transportation corridor and recreation space for many people of low and moderate incomes, does not get that same hearing.”

“Up until recently, the lobster fishermen were here dropping their cages,” said Brogan.

“I was looking out my window a few minutes ago and there was a chap fishing. He had hip waders on, and he was fishing the cove.”

“People fish all along this whole cove,” said Dartmouth resident Jason Stacy, sitting near the proposed infill site on Thursday. “I think they have enough real estate going up here that they don’t need to be infilling our harbour.”

“If the premier would even come over to our area and have a look around, (he) would very easily see that Dartmouth Cove is not the correct place to put a pyritic slate sequestration site,” Brogan added.