Municipality calls on province to reconsider development approvals in protected areas

Council for a municipality on Nova Scotia's South Shore again finds itself at odds with the provincial government when it comes to overseeing the protection of coastal communities.

Municipality of the District of Lunenburg Mayor Carolyn Bolivar-Getson wrote to Natural Resources Minister Tory Rushton last month to call on him to reconsider a provision in the provincial Beaches Act that grants the minister discretion to approve development projects in protected areas.

The letter was prompted by concerns from members of the Kingsburg Coastal Conservancy after a property owner in the Kingsburg Beach area received approval from the province to construct a boardwalk and bunkhouse on land that lies between the beach and a large pond within the community's designated protected area..

"They fear that these developments could set a dangerous precedent for further construction on the remaining private properties within this ecologically fragile area," Bolivar-Getson wrote in the letter to Rushton.

In an interview, Bolivar-Getson said the situation is frustrating because it comes at a time when the municipality is working on a new coastal protection bylaw intended to govern development along the municipality's coast.

"It seems that every step we take forward it seems like we take three back," she said. "We don't want to see this as being a loophole to get around any bylaw that we would put in place."

Kingsburg Beach and land around it received its protected designation in 1995.

Assessments of the area through the years have noted a diversity of ecosystems and species, and pointed to it being a staging area for migratory birds and a host to a rare type of wetland. It's also susceptible to rising sea levels and severe weather.

"It's important that places like this don't get developed," said Marilyn Congdon, a member of Kingsburg Coastal Conservancy.

"It's a wonderful beach, dune, back wetland system."

In her letter to Rushton, the mayor asks that the minister reconsider issuing permits in areas protected by the Beaches Act until "a robust policy is in place to guide development and protect our precious coastal environment."

"We recognize the complexities involved in balancing development and conservation," Bolivar-Getson writes on behalf of council. "However, we firmly assert that the preservation of our natural resources should be a top priority."

Rushton said in an interview that every application that comes to his department is assessed on an individual basis to ensure it won't have an impact on the surrounding area, as has been the case even before his time as minister.

"There's been many approvals in different areas that wouldn't put a hindrance on wildlife or biodiversity or any adverse impacts on that," he said.

Rushton's department approved the application in Kingsburg with conditions that no work happen during times that could disturb migratory birds.

The minister asked officials from the Environment and Climate Change Department for a second opinion following the concerns from the community. That review raised no red flags, he said.

A spokesperson for the department said in a statement that officers attended and investigated site and determined that no wetland alteration approval was required under the Environment Act because the area in question was dry.

Discretion should be reserved for 'extreme cases'

Officials in his department try to strike a balance between protection and development, given that much of the area covered by the act is private property and not Crown land, said Rushton.

"So we don't want to hinder the landowner on that."

Janet Peace, chair of the Kingsburg Coastal Conservancy, disagrees with the provincial approval for the development. She worries that the ministerial discretion provision in the Beaches Act could result in projects being approved that are detrimental to protected areas.

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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.

For Bolivar-Getson, the situation is also frustrating in light of the Tory government's decision earlier this year to abandon the Coastal Protection Act in favour of an approach that puts much of the responsibility for coastal development in the hands of municipalities.

Her council is doing that work — the municipality's bylaw is scheduled for second reading this week — but having a provision that allows the minister to approve things that a municipal bylaw might not support complicates things, said Bolivar-Getson. It is also contradictory to the province's suggestion it wants municipalities to take the lead, she added.

"When we're looking at environmentally sensitive areas — over and over again we heard that residents did not want to see activity in these areas," she said.

If the province is going to keep the ministerial discretion provision in the Beaches Act, Bolivar-Getson said it should only be used in "extreme cases where it would make sense to do that."

"I'm not sure this is one of them."