Brian and Cathie Mourre live in Eagle Head. (Rick Conrad photo)

Nova Scotia’s coastline now has even less protection after the province announced Monday that the Coastal Protection Act is dead, some Queens County residents say.

Tim Halman, Nova Scotia’s minister of environment and climate change, announced the government would not proclaim the long-delayed act, effectively killing it.

The legislation was passed with all-party support in 2019. Instead, Halman introduced plans, tools and other legislation that would have property owners, municipalities and the province share responsibility for protecting coastal property.

He said the government wants to empower coastal property owners to make informed decisions. As part of that, the government introduced a new online coastal hazard map that shows projected sea levels, storm surges and flooding potential to the year 2100. 

Residents who have been waiting for stronger coastal protections were disappointed, but not surprised. Len Michalik lives in Eagle Head.

“I was somewhere between disappointed and vindicated in my thoughts that wow this is really where they’re going with this,” Michalik said. 

“They’ve kicked this can so far down the road that it’s in the ditch and unrecoverable. They promised they were in full support of this when in opposition. … And ever since they’ve come into power, they’ve done seemingly everything they can to make themselves look good while pushing it to the side.”

Michalik is part of the group Protecting Eagle Head Beach. 

It was formed in June 2022 when former Halifax mayor Peter Kelly bought a property on Eagle Head Beach and immediately blocked the road through the property which people used as one way onto the beach. The community was also upset that he was damaging the beach and wetlands on the property.

Despite many appeals to and meetings with Environment and Natural Resources officials, as well as with Queens MLA and Public Works Minister Kim Masland and her staff, the development was allowed to go ahead.

Cathie Mourre lives in Eagle Head. She is also a member of Protecting Eagle Head Beach. She said the Tories could have committed to enforcing current environment protections and making them stronger with the new act.

 “But instead they took the easy way out and put it in our hands. We’re not experts, we don’t know how to protect the coastline.”

Mourre said she’s worried that more of that job will now fall to smaller municipalities like Queens, who have limited resources.

“And the thing is Nova Scotia is a coastal province. So what happens in the municipality of Queens isn’t necessarily the same that’s going to happen in the municipality of Lunenburg. So we have two coastlines butting up against one another and we’ve got two different sets of rules, well that’s crazy.

“The municipality had bylaws set out and we know they didn’t follow them. The Environment (department) has tons of rules. They didn’t follow their own rules.”

Region of Queens Mayor Darlene Norman joined 11 other municipalities last year calling on the government to enact the new legislation. 

She said that while she is disappointed, the region’s municipal planning strategy and land use bylaw, passed in 2022, has some of the strongest protections in the province.

She said she’s more concerned with neighbouring municipalities like Shelburne or the Municipality of the District of Lunenburg having minimal or weaker protections. The Coastal Protection Act would have levelled the playing field across the province.

Mourre says she believes property owners should be able to build on their own land. But they should be forced to follow the rules.

In the meantime, she says she wants a moratorium on coastal development. 

“And permitting on a beach is totally different than permitting in a subdivision,” she says.

“So when this permitting along the coastline happens, (staff) should be getting out from behind their desks and they should be going and looking at the piece of land that people want ot develop. It’s as simple as that.”

Michalik says he’d like to see the municipality resurrect and integrate the Coastal Protection Act into its own bylaws.

“However, I have my doubts that that will happen. We don’t have the resources or the manpower to actually do the investigation, do the research and do all the enforcement on it. I hope for the best but I fear the worst.”

Both Michalik and Mourre said, however, that maybe this will spur more people to pressure governments to do more to protect Nova Scotia’s coastline.

“We’re also in danger of having our licence plate motto which is known across the country and around the world, Canada’s Ocean Playground, is going to become the playground for those who can afford it. 

“The rest of us are going to have to stay in our designated areas and keep quiet.”

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Seaside Centre. Photo Damien van den Berg

Residents have voted down a request for an area rate to support the Seaside Recreation Centre.

The centre’s board is asking Region of Queens council to impose a tax of four cents per hundred dollars of assessment on property owners in Assessment District 7, which includes Beach Meadows, Eagle Head, East Berlin, West Berlin, and Port Medway.

Of the 223 people who turned out at the Seaside Centre Wednesday night, 192 were against the area rate while only 30 cast ballots in support.

Spokesperson for the Seaside Recreation and Community Centre Association Damien van den Berg was surprised by the lopsided result.

“I was probably thinking it would have been more evenly split,” said van den Berg.

The vote itself is non-binding on regional council but the results will be taken into account when they consider the rest of the area rate application at an upcoming meeting.

Based on this result, van den Berg suspects the group may have some work to do.

“I don’t think we’re going to get exactly what we applied for. If we get something, great, if we get nothing, that’s okay too,” said van den Berg. “But if you don’t ask the question, you don’t get an answer.”

Council can decide to award the proposed rate, decrease the amount or not agree to the request at all.

While funding is still an issue for the Seaside Centre, van den Berg says a silver lining could still come out of this.

“I think there’s individuals that may not have been aware of the situation that are stepping up and potentially going to volunteer or potentially donate or look at other ways of helping support so we’ll see how that all works out.”

Reported by Ed Halverson 
E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

To listen to the broadcast of this story, press play below.

Seaside Centre. Photo Damien van den Berg

A local community centre is looking to collect funding from area residents property tax bills.

The Seaside Recreation and Community Centre is asking Region of Queens council to approve an area rate of four cents on every hundred dollars of assessed property value for residents of Beach Meadows, Eagle Head, West Berlin, East Berlin and Port Medway.

On a $150,000 home, the area rate would amount to an extra $60 on the homeowners property tax bill.

The treasurer of the volunteer board operating the Seaside Community Centre Damien van den Berg understands no one wants to see their taxes go up, but hopes when people understand the situation they will get on board.

“Even just putting paint on the wall is difficult unless you’ve got money to do that,” said van den Berg. “Primarily the challenge has been operating a building versus operating a community centre.”

van den Berg says the board would like to focus on repairing the basketball courts, fixing up trails and painting lines for pickleball to attract more users but can’t because they’re working on keeping the lights on every month.

Figures submitted by the board to the Region of Queens show an operating deficit of over $6,000 for 2020.

During the year, Seaside Centre received almost $2,000 in donations and raised $358 from an online raffle.

The group has applied to the federal and provincial government for grants to make the basement level fully accessible. The federal funding will build a ramp and renovate the existing washrooms. While the money from the province will go to install 7 heat pumps to lower the heating costs and provide better control over the temperature and humidity.

But neither of those grants will assist in the day-to-day operations of the recreation centre.

van den Berg is concerned the centre cannot continue to rely on donations to fund their activities and needs to find a steady stream of income to go forward. The area rate is expected to provide $35,000 each year

“The cost associated to that increase is quite low year over year, like $50-$60 a year isn’t a significant amount of money from an assessment perspective in order to have a facility that supports the community,” said van den Berg.

He believes the community is looking for the Seaside Centre to be more than it is. And if the area rate is approved, they will have the stability to return their focus from maintaining a building to upgrading the facility and improving their offerings.

“I like to say I’d rather buy a bunch of hockey sticks and hockey nets for the kids that are in the community than being able to turn the lights on,” said van den Berg.

Area residents will have a say in whether or not they’re willing to foot the bill.

A vote will be held on the proposed area rate at the Seaside Centre on March 3.

To cast a ballot, a person must be 18 years of age, a Canadian citizen and permanently reside in Beach Meadows, Eagle Head, East Berlin, West Berlin, or Port Medway on March 3, 2021.

The vote itself will not determine whether or not the area rate will go ahead. The results will be presented to Region of Queens council and used as part of their process as they decide whether or not to introduce the area rate during their annual budget deliberations over the next month.

Reported by Ed Halverson 
E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

To listen to the broadcast of this story, press play below.