Infilling restriction should work in Dartmouth too, says community advocate

HALIFAX, N.S. — Some Dartmouth residents are hoping that if infilling restrictions are good enough for the Northwest Arm, they should work in Dartmouth Cove too.

“If the city could do this for one, they should be able to do it for the other,” said Jill Brogan with Friends of Dartmouth Cove.

This community group is buoyed by the news that Halifax regional council was given jurisdiction from the federal government and voted on Tuesday night to restrict infilling on the Northwest Arm.

Infilling — which is the jurisdiction of Transport Canada and Fisheries and Oceans Canada — is an issue in several spots in HRM.

Dartmouth Cove residents are rallying against an infill application on Dartmouth Cove filed in March by Bruce Wood, who is listed as the president of 4197847 Nova Scotia Ltd.

He applied to Transport Canada for permission to dump materials from “local excavation projects” into a 2.7 hectare water lot on Dartmouth Cove, just south of the Narrows. There are also plans to install a temporary gravel access road on the west side of the property to Maitland Street.

As of Wednesday, the application is still listed as “in progress.”

Brogan said she and members of the Friends group have been very interested in the changes over infilling in the Northwest Arm and it has given them hope.

“That sounds really hopeful and honestly, if the city can do that for the Northwest Arm for those water lots, it certainly seems like they could do the very same thing for Dartmouth Cove and of course, all the other water lots that are out there.”

A broader concern

At a news conference on Wednesday at St. Mary’s Boat Club on the arm, Halifax MP Andy Fillmore pointed out that restricting infilling on this spot was one of his campaign promises and explained why it took so many years to get it done.

“It’s kind of a policy quagmire or a dead space between jurisdiction that can often stall positive change.”

He said he knows there are other neigbourhoods with infilling issues in HRM.

“It’s my hope we’ll use what we’ve accomplished here as a model for other communities, other local bylaws, to follow. In the end it will be up to our municipal colleagues to make those decisions but we’ve charted a course here.”

Coun. Patty Cuttell (Spryfield – Sambro Loop – Prospect Road) said at the news conference that councillors have heard from residents about other infilling situations, including Dartmouth Cove.

“It is a broader concern. I think this sets a precedent and I think it shows that something can be done and I’m sure there will be further discussions about that.”

Bulletproof?

Fillmore also spoke to concerns raised at the public hearing at City Hall on Tuesday night that this new permission from the federal government for HRM to restrict infilling on the arm isn’t “bulletproof” and could change after an election.

“The federal  departments and ministers … have all been clear to me that HRM has a clear path to proceed,” he said. “I think that this is a durable arrangement and that we’re in a really good place for the long term here.”

For now, Brogan said in a phone interview that there’s enough to be hopeful.

“I would say we’re hopeful and that we really, really want to see that change come through that yes, indeed they can protect us as well.

“They say what’s good for the goose is good for the gander, so let’s go.”