Conrads Beach to remain publicly accessible

A group of Eastern Shore residents are satisfied they'll still be able to access Conrads Beach.

Aaron MacNeil, president of the West Lawrencetown Residents' Association and associate professor at Dalhousie University, had concerns about a local homeowner's request to review a strip of beach between the landowner's current property line and the water.

However, after meetings with the group's lawyer and the Crown, MacNeil's group was assured the Beaches Act does in fact protect public access to the popular beach, including a 12-metre buffer between the beach's high water mark and the edge of the person's property.

"Basically we've been assured by the Crown that people will still be able to walk the full length of Conrads Beach," said MacNeil.

"In terms of what the residents' association is looking for here is really to just maintain pedestrian access and to make sure that the Beaches Act stays in place because the ecological integrity of the beach is of interest to everybody. That's why people love that beach so much, because it is so beautiful." 

MacNeil said the property owner's original application was "ambiguous" and included land to the high water mark of the beach, which included a portion of the public access points. 

Some bad blood in the past

He said in the past, some homeowners in the area have yelled at pedestrians trying to get to the beach, saying they were trespassing on private land. MacNeil hopes that no longer happens. 

"But I also reminded them, too, that we have these particular landowners in the area have been aggressive with people and they should make sure they're within this 40-foot boundary when they're walking on that part of the beach," he said. 

People using the beach in that area should document any aggressive interactions and let MacNeil's group know.

In fact, MacNeil received a odd, anonymous letter in the mail at his home on Thursday from someone who had taken issue with an interview he did with the CBC's Information Morning last month. In the interview, MacNeil spoke of how landownership issues had to do with cottages that had once been on the land. 

"[It] accused me of slandering Admiral Landymore in that interview and their contention was that Admiral Landymore had not in fact built the cottages that I had alluded to in that interview — which is actually the case," he said. 

"So there's still some weirdness going on but hopefully we'll all settle down and cooler heads will prevail." 

MacNeil said he's happy to discuss any issues property owners may have, face to face.