Work is underway on the $8.1-million outdoor pool at Queens Place Emera Centre. (Rick Conrad)

The dream of an indoor pool for Queens County was likely sunk on Monday night.

Two weeks ago, Region of Queens councillors asked CAO Cody Joudry to investigate the feasibility of turning the outdoor pool now under construction at Queens Place Emera Centre into an indoor facility.

At their meeting on Monday night, councillors heard that it’s not so straightforward, or cheap.

Joudry said the $8.1-million outdoor project would likely balloon to at least $30 million if councillors decided to change it. He said the cost to taxpayers of the current project is less than one cent on $100 of assessment over 20 years. For an outdoor pool, that could go up to five cents.

“Council needs to either pick an indoor pool or an outdoor pool, but you can’t really convert an outdoor to an indoor pool,” he told councillors.

The region secured $3 million from an anonymous donor and $2.2 million from the province for the current project. It’s picking up the remaining $2.9-million tab.

Joudry said if the region changes or stops the project now, it could be on the hook for “sunk costs” of up to $2 million — in penalties or work that’s already done. And the municipality may also have to look for new funding, which would further delay the project.

The region would also have to come up with a whole new design.

Adam Grant, the region’s director of engineering and public works, said the current design is not easily adapted. He said some of the work already done could be salvaged, but much of it would have to be abandoned.

“When you start adding heating systems and take a facility that was deisgned to operate three months of the year conducive to the climate and turn it on its flip side and tell it it’s got to operate nine more months of the year, heating, air conditioning, ventilation, as well as condensation control. You start adding structural steel known to support a roof or with roof loads or snow loads. It’s not a simple matter of just putting a roof over it.”

District 3 Coun. Courtney Wentzell said he wants the region to consult with community members. He said it was a big issue during the recent election campaign, and most people who were in favour of a pool wanted an indoor one.

Mayor Scott Christian campaigned on getting an indoor pool. But on Monday, he told QCCR that changing it up would be a big burden to taxpayers.

“The total bill for the residents is about 3 million bucks with that project completion. 
And so incurring $2 million in sunk costs without any assurances about the extent to which we’ll actually be able to repurpose any of what has already been done, I think we can’t go there right now.”

Christian said he’d like to get the Queens Community Aquatic Society involved again and re-form the region’s pool committee.

Councillors decided to stick with the status quo and allow the outdoor pool project to continue. The heated, 25-metre pool is expected to open by 2026.

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The Falls in Milton under construction on the banks of the Mersey River. (Rick Conrad photo)

The Region of Queens is going to pay the builder of an apartment building on the Mersey River in Milton to connect to the municipal sewer system.

Councillors voted at their meeting last week to compensate Eric and Dawn Fry, the owners of The Falls in Milton at 314 Highway 8 for the costs of running a sewer line from their new 15-unit apartment complex.

That would be for a lateral connection, the section of pipe that connects a private property to the municipal collection system. Ownership and maintenance of the lateral on private property are the owner’s responsibility.

The municipality’s sewer system bylaw states that “all costs associated with the installation, connection, maintenance or repair” of a building connection to the sewer system are the responsibility of the owner. 

But because the connection for this property is across the road, the municipality would be on the hook for the work of at least $50,000, according to a staff report. 

Adam Grant, director of engineering and public works, says past practice has been for the municipality to pay for the portion of the lateral that would have to cross a road.

Mayor Darlene Norman said the bylaw isn’t as cut and dried as it seems.

“The bylaw is grey,” she said in a recent interview.

“And when we look at what we’ve been doing up until now, the homeowner or developer or anyone is simply told to put their pipe out to the road. And then the region connects to our lateral that’s running. And that’s what that developer was told. When he did his site plan and his permits, he was told and approved to run his pipe directly out to the No. 8 highway which is what he did.

“Now it’s been determined by staff that … the cost to connect him to our lateral because it’s on the other side of the road which was never discussed with them, it’s $50,000-plus because it’s provincial highway, it’s permits, it’s all those items.”

So, municipal staff have been working with the owners to run a pipe on the property parallel to Highway 8 into a manhole at the edge of the property. That would connect the building to the municipal system.

That option would cost up to $27,500, according to the staff report. The developer would do the work and be compensated by the municipality.

“To suddenly say to a person that you have all their approvals in place, they’ve done what they’re told and then to say, ‘Oh, by the way, there’s another $50,000 price tag that you have to pick up,’ that’s a little unfair,” Norman said.

“You can’t tell someone to do something and then a year or two later, say, ‘Oh, maybe we shouldn’t have told you that.’ So the region will pick up the cost of running it to the manhole cover.”

Councillors voted in August 2022 to sell the former Garika Park to the Frys. And in October of that year, councillors also rezoned the land to allow the Frys to go ahead with their development.

Geared toward seniors, the three-storey building is slated for an October opening.

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Region of Queens councillors want a staff report on installing traffic lights at the three-way stop at Main and Market Streets in downtown Liverpool. (Rick Conrad)

Queens County pedestrians and motorists won’t see orange crosswalk flags at a busy intersection in downtown Liverpool, but they could see a return of traffic lights.

Region of Queens councillors on Tuesday voted against installing the flags at the three-way stop at Main and Market streets. But they did support getting a staff report on having full traffic lights at that intersection.

The area did have traffic lights decades ago, until they were damaged by a transport truck, and taken down.

Safety concerns have long been an issue at Main and Market streets. In 2015, regional councillors commissioned a study by Insight Traffic Engineering that found traffic control wasn’t an issue and recommended minor changes.

In 2019, councillors rejected installing pedestrian-controlled crosswalk lights at a cost of $27,000.

But a collision in January which sent a 79-year-old woman to hospital rekindled concern in the community about safety at that intersection.

Councillors asked staff to come back with options about how to make that intersection safer. Adam Grant, the region’s director of engineering and public works, said in April that there is no evidence crosswalk flags would help. And he said pedestrian-controlled lights at that intersection could interrupt traffic flow and create more problems. He said it’s unusual to have the lights at a three-way stop.

The Town of Mahone Bay installed an all-way stop in 2021 near Saltbox Brewery on its Main Street. It also has flashing red lights and orange crosswalk flags for pedestrian use.

The all-way stop in Mahone Bay by Saltbox Brewery. (Google Streetview)

Even though councillors on Tuesday rejected the flags, they said action needs to be taken to make Main and Market intersection safer.

District 2 Coun. Maddie Charlton said that it will only get busier with the new Queens Manor, the apartment building planned off Bristol Avenue and the planned Mount Pleasant development expected to house up to 1,200 people.

Charlton asked staff for the traffic light report.

“When I look around at other communities that have these three-way intersections, they have lights. And so I think it’s important that we understand what the criteria (are) for those lights. If another option has presented itself that we can consider, I think that would be helpful to have. We need something that tells us how we could get those traffic lights, what the criteria is, so if we’re not there yet, when can we pull the trigger on them.”

District 4 Coun. Vicki Amirault said it’s time for the region to address the problem.

“One person getting hit there is too many, and it’s been many over the years. So I think we really need to look into this and go forward on this and not stall so much on this problem. I know it’s been years and years, but I think we need to find a way forward.”

District 5 Coun. Jack Fancy said the flags would have been better than nothing. And he said he also supports pedestrian-controlled lights.

“There’s always going to be issues with each thing, but I believe the good outweighs the bad with this. Especially, what we’re aiming for right now is doing nothing. And I don’t think doing nothing is the answer.”

District 6 Coun. David Brown said enforcement and education would resolve a lot of safety issues.

“The lights won’t stop cars, the lines on the pavement won’t stop cars. You have to look for yourself and guard your safety. We’ve got a lot of development coming and I’d like to know what would trigger a need for (traffic) lights at that intereseciton because I think the stop control works well now if we enforce it.”

Mayor Darlene Norman said that when the traffic lights were operating at that intersection years ago, it seemed to help.

On Tuesday, councillors also approved $1,000 to study the feasibility of reducing the speed limit on Main Street from School Street to Riverside Drive, near Fort Point Lighthouse Park.

Residents submitted a petition to council in November, asking them to improve traffic safety in the area by lowering the speed limit and installing an all-way stop at Main and School streets. 

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Region of Queens councillors will again discuss traffic safety in downtown Liverpool, at their regular meeting on Tuesday. (Rick Conrad)

Traffic concerns, a heritage property and money for community groups are some of the issues Queens County councillors will be discussing on Tuesday at their regular council meeting.

At their April 23 meeting, councillors wanted more study of traffic safety issues in downtown Liverpool.

They voted to defer a decision on whether to install orange crosswalk flags at the three-way stop at Main and Market streets. Staff did not support that idea. But councillors plan to discuss it again on Tuesday. 

Councillors also plan to consider a motion on Tuesday to spend $1,000 on a traffic study on Main Street, from School Street to Riverside Drive near Fort Point Lighthouse Park. 

This was after a petition from residents in November, urging the region to lower speed limits in the area and to create a four-way stop at the Main and School Street intersection. Residents want the current 50 km/h limit lowered to 40.

At their April 23 meeting, councillors heard from Adam Grant, the region’s director of engineering and public works. He said an outside consultant in February studied municipal roads that might meet the provincial criteria for lowering the speed limit to below 50.

That work found that 85 per cent of the traffic on the section of Main Street from School down to the park was already topping out at 42 km/h.

Grant told councillors it would cost $35,000 to hire a traffic consultant to study the feasibility of a four-way stop at Main and School streets.

The municipality also plans to use three mobile speed feedback signs to help with lowering speed in the area.

Mayor Darlene Norman summarized Grant’s report.

“We can let the petitioners know that it is possible to reduce the speed from School east to Main. We are going to continue to do the investigation to reduce speed in that area. … We are doing three speed feedback signs, so that’s speed calming, which we can place in other areas.”

Staff are recommending that council spend the $1,000 to study the section of Main Street from School Street to the park. But they are not recommending crosswalk flags at the three-way stop on Main Street.

Councillors will also vote on Tuesday on requests from 18 non-profit groups for operational, capital or event funding through the region’s community investment fund. 

Another 16 groups applied for funding of less than $1,000 each. Those requests do not require council’s approval. Staff assess those applications. If councillors approve the requests, the region will be giving $147,858.64 to community groups around Queens County.

And the Medway Area Heritage Society is applying for a municipal heritage designation for Seely Hall in Port Medway. 

Built as a general store, warehouse and shipping office in the mid-1800s by the family of privateer Caleb Seely, the building is now used for community events, such as the Medway Head Lighthouse Art and Craft Show every summer.

The region’s heritage advisory committee recommended the property for heritage designation. It said the role of the building as a community hall and general store and the prominence of the Seely family is of great historical significance to the area.

Council meets at 9 a.m. on Tuesday in council chambers on White Point Road. You can also watch the proceedings live on the Region of Queens Facebook page or YouTube channel.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

The Milton Centennial Pool suffered severe damage in last July’s torrential rains and floods. (Rick Conrad)

The Milton Centennial Pool will remain closed this summer.

“It is very, very unfortunate, but the Milton pool will not be opening this year,” Region of Queens Mayor Darlene Norman said Monday.

The pool suffered significant damage in last July’s torrential rains and floods. Councillors heard Monday that it would cost from $100,000 to $150,000 to fix the pool.

The rains and flooding last summer damaged the pool liner. Even though the region ordered a new liner immediately, it arrived only in late December. So staff winterized the structure as best they could, according to Adam Grant, the region’s director of engineering and public works.

This spring, the region’s staff discovered the base of the pool had been damaged even further.

Grant said it would take about 12 weeks to do the work, with the “best-case scenario” of having the pool open by August.

Mayor Darlene Norman said the North Queens Aquatic Centre in Caledonia will be open.

“Unfortunately, for this summer we will be unable to provide seasonal swimming lessons at Milton pool,” Norman said in an interview.

“We did make the decision and we made it now so that we don’t have people’s hopes up.”

The region is going ahead with hiring lifeguards for the pool in Caledonia. CAO Cody Joudry said the pool staff hired will be employed for the whole summer. 

Councillors decided to keep the $40,000 budgeted for Milton pool operations in this year’s budget. They suggested that money could go toward extending the hours at the pool in Caledonia, covering mileage for lifeguards who have to travel to Caledonia or working out a deal with Queens County Transit to provide transportation for pool users in south Queens to north Queens.

They asked staff to report back with recommendations on what to do this summer and next year, until the new outdoor pool at Queens Place Emera Centre can be built.

Last Friday, Queens MLA Kim Masland announced $2.2 million in provincial funding toward the $7.2-million pool. The region has already committed $2 million, with another $3 million coming from a private anonymous donor.

Norman said last week that the region hopes to start construction in spring 2025, with an opening in 2026.

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Region of Queens councillors plan to ask RCMP to step up enforcement efforts at the three-way stop at Main and Market streets in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad)

Queens County councillors grappled with traffic safety in downtown Liverpool at their meeting on Tuesday evening.

The intersection at Main and Market streets has been the scene of some close calls between motorists and pedestrians. And in January, a 79-year-old woman was hit in the crosswalk and taken to hospital in Bridgewater. A driver was charged with failing to yield to a pedestrian in a marked crosswalk.

The incident reignited concern in the community about that intersection and others in town. Councillors heard from their constituents that they needed to address safety in that area.

Some residents want the municipality to install pedestrian-controlled crosswalk lights.

At their Jan. 23 meeting, councillors asked staff to review previous reports and studies about that intersection and come back with recommendations. They also asked staff to investigate adding fluorescent orange flags at that intersection for pedestrians to use while they cross.

On Tuesday evening, some councillors were in favour of trying the flags, while others were opposed. It would cost $1,050 to put the flags at each of the three corners of the intersection. The idea has been used in the Halifax region at many crosswalks, but not at those controlled by stop signs. 

Adam Grant, the region’s director of engineering and public works, said he spoke with the community group in Halifax behind those flags. 

The citizens’ group Crosswalk Safety Society of Nova Scotia began putting the orange flags at intersections in 2008 after a teenager was killed in a Dartmouth crosswalk. According to the group’s website, it got approval from the province in 2011 to allow crosswalk flags on provincial roads. They are now found in Hubbards, Hantsport, Aylesford, Berwick, New Ross, Bridgewater, Chester and Windsor.

Grant said the reception to them in the Halifax region is mixed. And he told councillors there is no evidence that installing the flags at Main and Market would improve pedestrian safety.

“I don’t feel comfortable consenting to the installation, quite frankly, as the traffic authority.

“Any time we introduce anything to a situation which doesn’t have a clear and direct guideline with substantiated evidence determined by professionals, we’re introducing liability. For me to suggest putting these in place will improve safety when I don’t know they will would be contradictory to my intent.”

Councillors decided to defer the flag discussion to a later date.

Grant said that pedestrian-controlled lights at the intersection could interrupt traffic flow and create more problems. He said it’s unusual to install the lights at a three-way stop.

A 2015 study by Insight Traffic Engineering did not recommend installing lights at the intersection. Instead, it suggested changing some signage, remove any trees or greenery obstructing visibility and moving the stop sign and crosswalk from the western approach on Main Street.

The study found that existing traffic control wasn’t an issue, though it did recommend council at the time ask Queens District RCMP to step up enforcement.

Grant told councillors Tuesday that conditions at the intersection haven’t changed since that 2015 report, and that there was no increase in the rate of collisions over the past 10 years, according to the RCMP.

Mayor Darlene Norman suggested leaving the issue for the next council to tackle after municipal elections in October.

District 6 Coun. David Brown said he’d like the region’s police advisory board to discuss increased enforcement with the RCMP at their next meeting, likely in late May.

“It sounds more like a compliance issue,” Brown said.

“Once you make an example of a few peole and word gets out that there are potential fines for jaywalking or entering the intersection illegally when you’re driving, word will get around and pepole will take the extra time and look at what they’re doing.” 

Norman said she believes that’s a good idea, and that police need to keep up the enforcement efforts for many days, and at all times of the day.

“And fines. Not warnings, but fines for rolling stops, for all of those things, because it might be the pedestrian once in a while who darts out, but it’s often the vehicle driver.”

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Kim Masland, Queens MLA and Nova Scotia’s public works minister, announces $10.7 million in provincial funding for a $21.5-million water and sewer expansion that gives the green light to two new housing developments in the Liverpool area. (Rick Conrad)

The Nova Scotia government and the Region of Queens are teaming up on a $21.5-million project to extend and improve water and sewer services in the Liverpool area.

Queens MLA Kim Masland on Monday announced $10.7 million in provincial funding to expand water and wastewater service to the Mount Pleasant area. The region will pitch in $10.8 million. 

The project means that two new private housing developments will go ahead on more than 60 acres of land. About 325 new housing units will be built for up to 1,200 people. It will be a mix of sold and rented space. About a third of those units could be affordable housing.

Masland, who is also Nova Scotia’s public works minister, made the announcement at the region’s municipal offices in Liverpool on behalf of John Lohr, the minister of municipal affairs and housing. 

“We need this funding, we know our community’s growing, we certainly need affordable and more housing stock within our community,” she said in an interview after the announcement.

“We’re attracting people to our community every day, there are med professionals that want to come here. This is a great project. This will allow us to build more houses.”

Masland said a municipal housing needs assessment found that Queens County needs 555 more housing units by the end of 2027. She said it’s difficult to recruit health care staff to move to the area if there’s nowhere to live.

“We need people building faster. We need homes up, we need places for people to live. We are in a housing crisis in the province and we’re going to do whatever we can to make sure we can help.”

The funding will also improve existing water and sewer services to more than 1,200 homes and businesses in the area, and help improve the amount of water available for firefighting efforts.

Region of Queens Mayor Darlene Norman emphasized that the funding will do more than help developers build new homes.

She said the current infrastructure is at or over capacity. The project will improve service for residents in Liverpool, Brooklyn and Milton.

“There are some really crucial repairs that need to be made to our system, so it can expand in all directions. This is not case-specific for specific people.”

The provincial portion of the funding comes from the $102-million Municipal Capital Growth Program. The region applied in December for the funding.

Norman said the region’s finance staff are working now to figure out how the municipal portion will be funded. The region is currently working on its 2024/25 budget.

Adam Grant, the region’s director of engineering and public works, said Monday he hopes the work will be finished in 24 to 36 months.

“So work is already underway. Following the feasibility study, we’ve migrated into some design work preliminary and that’s underway right now, looking at having designs rolled out in the fall and construction starting in the next 12 months ideally.”

The developers behind the two housing projects said Monday they were excited by the news. They’ve lobbied the municipality for the past few years to extend water and sewer services to those areas.

Both projects are near downtown Liverpool.

Larry Cochrane plans an 87-unit development on the old Dauphinee Farm property near Queens General Hospital, which would include a 24-unit apartment building.

He said he will soon begin the design phase of the project.

“I wish it was faster of course, but we’ll take that because there’s lots of work I need to do to get ready to start a project like this.”

Graham van der Pas is a partner with Rumclo Developments. They plan a three-stage development on about 30 acres of land farther up the road from Cochrane’s project.

“We’re very, very excited. We’ve been lobbying for this for the past two years. So it’s amazing.”

The Rumclo development will feature The Point, which will have 124, two-bedroom homes for sale, The Curve, with 22 three-bedroom townhouses, and Birchwood Gardens, 82 affordable rental apartments. Van der Pas said the affordable rentals will be 80 per cent of the median market rate. A one-bedroom would be about $800 a month, a two-bedroom $1,000 and a three-bedroom would rent for $1,200.

A section of The Curve will also be reserved for staff from Queens General Hospital to rent.

“I think a community like this needs it,” van der Pas said. 

“I think what our developments will bring to the town is … a significant amount of property taxes. The revenue will go up there, the economic revenue of people potentially starting businesses, new patrons for the businesses that are already existing. It’s significant.”

Ashley Christian, president of the South Queens Chamber of Commerce, said she’s happy that such a big investment is being made in Queens.

“We have been advocating through the chamber of commerce for more housing for a couple of years. So we’re so excited to see this huge investment, especially made by the municipality, really impressed by that.”

Christian said she’s especially happy that half the funding is coming from the province. She said she hopes that means the project won’t be a big burden on municipal taxpayers.

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Entrance to Region of Queens council chambers. Photo Ed Halverson

A pair of public hearings to determine land-use issues in Milton led into Tuesday’s Region of Queens council meeting.

The first was an application for a development agreement to allow Samantha Corner and Robie Leigh Murphy to establish an automobile repair shop at 16 Edward Street.

Several letters supporting the application were received and no one in the gallery rose to speak against.

In session, Council voted unanimously to enter the development agreement.

The second public hearing involved a zoning change to permit the construction of a multi-unit building on the former Garika land on the corner of Highway 8 and Bridge Street in Milton.

Several people rose to speak in opposition to the project citing road safety issues, loss of a public view of the river and the need for fire departments to have access to a dry well on site to fill trucks.

Mayor Darlene Norman says council discussed the fact the road is already at the lowest speed limit permitted of 50km/h and there are no passing lanes along that stretch of highway.

Norman also indicated Milton already has several public park areas including the outdoor pool and Pine Grove Park and is well serviced in that regard.

Norman says council listened to Planning and Development Director Mike MacLeod when he said fire department and public access to the site would be guaranteed when the sale agreement is finalized.

“Ensuring that there’s access for fire departments to that dry hydrant as well as there’s a public boat launch on that site and public access to that will also remain,” said Norman.

During the session council voted to allow the zoning changes by a margin of 6-2 with Councillors Brown and Fancy voting against.

Council started their session by approving a tender for bulk salt trucking.

They accepted a submission by Van Dyk Excavation and Trucking in the amount of $49.95 plus HST per metric tonne.

Director of Engineering & Public Works Adam Grant said every municipality across the province is experiencing large increases for salt delivery and Queens is no different as the $49.95 approved by council is roughly $8.50 per tonne higher than last year.

Next council voted to send the province the results of the Municipal Electoral Boundary review.

As previously reported, the review recommends keeping council composition the same with 7 councillors and one mayor but realigning the districts so the former Town of Liverpool will now only have representation from two councillors.

Council then approved a request from the South Queens Chamber of Commerce to allow alcohol consumption on municipal property as part of the Liverpool International Theatre Festival opening night festivities.

A review of job descriptions for public works employees was the next item on the agenda followed by a funding request from the Greenfield Community Park Society.

The organization is developing a community recreation area behind the Greenfield recreation centre and school, starting with a walking trail.

Council agreed to contribute $9,400 from the community investment fund to the project.

The two public hearing items were then discussed and decided before council voted on a new deputy mayor.

Councillor Jack Fancy was elected to serve in that role for the last two years of this council’s mandate. Fancy replaces outgoing Deputy Mayor, Kevin Muise.

The Deputy Mayor receives no additional pay and fills in for the mayor when they are unavailable.

In the discussion portion of the session, council received a report from staff on the Lost at Sea Memorial being proposed for Fort Point Park.

Staff raised concerns about disturbing underground infrastructure on the site and the removal of trees from the park.

Members of the Diversity and Inclusion team also recommended that proponents of the memorial consult with local Mi’kmaq regarding their inclusion on the memorial.

Council then discussed a request from Yarmouth Mayor Pam Mood asking Region of Queens to forward on to the province a letter of support for the Maine Ferry.

Finally, council added an agenda item to discuss whether traffic safety studies should be included by developers looking for permission to build in Queens.

Staff will contact other municipalities in Nova Scotia to determine what common practices are in place and bring a report back to council.

According to the Region’s Calendar, the next council meeting will be on the road in Port Medway.

The meeting will take place at the fire hall starting at 6:00pm.

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