Lunenburg municipality readies coastal protection plans

The Municipality of the District of Lunenburg appears poised to move ahead with land-use bylaws and planning rules related to coastal protection, which could make it the first council to do so after the provincial government announced it was abandoning the Coastal Protection Act.

"I would say within the next couple of weeks that we will be making a decision on this," Mayor Carolyn Bolivar-Getson said during an interview on Tuesday, following a presentation to council by officials with the provincial Department of Environment.

The mayor and councillors were looking to understand why projections in a hazard map released by the province differed from numbers the municipality was using as part of its own planning related to sea level rise, storm surge and high tide projections through the year 2100.

As it turns out, the municipality is using more recent modelling data that has yet to be publicly released. Data used by the province is from the same source, but is what is available to the public.

'You are ahead of the game'

Meghan McMorris, a project director with the Environment Department, said the municipality's data is more granular and provides more local context than what's currently on the provincial map.

"You are ahead of the game. You are leading the way on this," she told council, adding that the local information is "a very strong" resource for residents to refer to as they contemplate development by the coast.

Members of council expressed frustration at what they viewed as the province's decision to download responsibility for regulating coastal development. Environment Minister Tim Halman announced in February that his government would not make the Coastal Protection Act, legislation that was passed with all-party support in 2019, the law of the land.

That legislation and the corresponding regulations were supposed to outline where people could and could not build along the coast and what type of security measures, such as the use of armour rock, would be permissible.

Following three rounds of public consultation and despite no meaningful public opposition to the act, Halman announced that the province would instead leave it to municipalities to draft their own planning rules. The province is making information available to land users as a resource, but it is trusting them to make the right decisions rather than taking a prescriptive approach.

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Coun. Leitha Haysom said in an interview that the municipality's projections, which forecast greater sea level rise by 37 centimetres and larger storm surge allowances by 63 centrimetres than the provincial model, seem to follow a more "precautionary approach" than the province's.

"I'm confused as to why Nova Scotia Environment would use information that's out of date to put guidelines forward," she said. Still, she added, something from the province for the public to consider is better than nothing.

A spokesperson for the province said new data would be reviewed as it becomes publicly available and the hazard map and other information would be updated as required.

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Coastal property owners and researchers are expressing frustration with the provincial government's approach to safeguarding the coast. Some say there needs to be more leadership from the province after abandoning the Coastal Protection Act.

Peter Horne, the Environment Department's coastal program administrator, told council that his department is also looking at extending hazard risk projections so they go farther inland and consider additional climate models that take into account different scenarios. That would give people a better understanding of the risks that need to be evaluated as they consider building projects, he said.

McMorris said the department is still contemplating what kind of enforcement support could be provided for municipalities as they get their rules in place.

• Property owners, researcher critical of N.S. approach to coastal protection

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Help for municipalities taking on this task continues to be a point of concern. Many lack the staff expertise and financial resources to take on the work. The province has said it will develop draft bylaws to help municipalities on that front.

During a meeting of Cape Breton Regional Municipality's council on Tuesday night, councillors unanimously approved a motion to ask the Nova Scotia Federation of Municipalities to consider coastal protection as an advocacy priority with the provincial government and to have the issue reviewed by the federation's climate change advisory committee.

Mayor Amanda McDougall raised the issue and councillors agreed, saying municipalities do not have the resources to enforce coastal protection.

Council for the Municipality of the District of Lunenburg passed a similar motion during its meeting on Tuesday.

Bolivar-Getson, who is also president of the federation, said a key focus will continue to be lobbying the province to ensure it provides municipalities with the resources they need to handle the new responsibility.