A test tower collecting wind data on the site of the Mersey River Wind farm in Milton. (Renewall Energy)

The Mersey River wind farm in Milton has finally broken ground, with crews getting the site ready this fall for when turbines are delivered next year.

“We are moving forward with the construction of the wind farm,” said Dan Roscoe, CEO of Roswall Development, the company that plans to install 33 windmills on Crown land west of the Mersey River.

“What will take place over the coming weeks will mostly be work on roads and grading, and we’re going to get as much done as we can before the snow flies. It’ll probably take us into  the first week or two of January until we have to shut down, and then we’ll pick things up in probably March or April.”

Once the windmills are operational, Queens County residents will be able to buy power directly from Roswall’s subsidiary Renewall Energy.

Renewall promises that its rates will be lower and more stable than Nova Scotia Power’s. Hundreds of people have already signed up to be among the first residential customers, and the company also has agreements with more than 30 commercial, industrial, and government customers. The Region of Queens Municipality is one of them.

Roscoe told QCCR this week the company is in talks with about a dozen more big users.

“We’ve been engaging commercial and larger customers for some time, and that has continued. We continue to sign up new customers.”

Renewall sent out notices this week to people on its mailing list and to other local groups to tell them they’d be working at the site in Milton.

Roscoe said they’re still on schedule to have the wind turbines delivered by fall of 2026. He says people are excited about one of the first big wind projects in Nova Scotia that will sell power directly to homeowners.

“So it’s a big milestone for us, and I think it’s a big milestone for Nova Scotia. I think there’s a lot of interest in having choice of who we can buy electricity from. So we think it’s exciting for both electricity customers in Nova Scotia and the renewable energy industry in general.”

In 2021, Renewall was the first in Nova Scotia to be awarded a licence to sell power directly to consumers under the Renewable to Retail program introduced by the provincial government in 2015. The program allows companies to supply electricity directly to consumers while paying Nova Scotia Power a tariff for use of their grid.

People can sign up for updates on the project on the Mersey River Wind website.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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MacPhersons in Liverpool has been sold. (MacPhersons via Facebook)

The Wasoqopa’q, or Acadia, First Nation have bought two Liverpool retail businesses.

The Mi’kmaw nation’s leadership announced Tuesday evening that it has bought the long-established MacPhersons in Liverpool.

And early Wednesday evening, it announced it has bought the building currently operating as the Milton Market in Milton. That building has been for sale since May.

Wasoqopa’q is based in Yarmouth but takes in communities throughout southwestern Nova Scotia to Halifax. It includes six reserves: Yarmouth, Ponhook, Medway, Wildcat, Gold River and Hammonds Plains.

Liverpool furniture and sporting goods store MacPhersons was established in 1982, but the MacPherson family said their family has been in business for five generations.

Wasoqopa’q First Nation said it has bought the store and the land behind the business.

Owner Horace MacPherson told QCCR on Wednesday he was too busy for an interview and would prefer to comment next week.

Chief Deborah Robinson could not be reached for comment.

In the post shared by Deputy Chief Avis Johnson about MacPhersons, the First Nation leadership says it will continue to operate MacPhersons as it is now.

“MacPhersons has a long history as a successful establishment in Queens and we plan to continue to deliver the same quality service customers have come to know. The operation will continue to be managed by longtime employee Tyler Frank, a Wasoqopa’q First Nation member.”

In the same post, the MacPherson family said they’re leaving the store in “the best of hands”.

“Our family is honoured to pass the store on to the First Nations community. It’s a meaningful transition for us, knowing the store will continue to serve the community with the same heart and eclectic spirit that’s made it special for so many years.

“We’ve always believed in offering a little bit of everything, and we’re thrilled to see that legacy carried forward.”

Post shared on Facebook about the MacPhersons sale

MacPhersons sells appliances, furniture, hunting and fishing supplies and a variety of other products, including clothing, household goods and some audio-visual and computer supplies.

It also leases space to the Needs gas bar and convenience store next door.

The Wasoqopa’q leadership said it also plans to develop the land behind the store which runs down to the Mersey River as an outdoor cultural gathering place guided by Mi’kmaw traditional teaching.

Region of Queens Mayor Scott Christian said he’s happy to see the business continue.

“I love MacPhersons because for me, it’s the store that has stuff that nobody else has in Queens. So I think it’s a really important member of the retail business community here. And I think it’s really interesting that (the new owner is) the First Nations community. I think it’s great.”

It’s unclear when the new owners of MacPhersons will officially take over. 

Facebook post about the Milton Market sale

As for the Milton Market property, the Indigenous community said they expected to make a formal announcement on July 31, “however in an effort to dispel speculation and false information we are sharing the news today.”

“We will use this property for a variety of programming, including an adult education and drop-in centre, workshops, small group gatherings, and other activities. More information to our membership will be shared once the purchase is complete.

“The ability to find appropriate space for our programming in the Queens area has gotten more difficult in the past few years. We are pleased to finally have a space of our own.”

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Dan Roscoe is the CEO of Roswall Development, which owns Renewall Energy, the company behind Mersey River Wind. (Renewall Energy)

Work may start soon on the Mersey River Wind project in Milton.

Dan Roscoe is the CEO of Roswall Development, the company that plans to build a 33-wind turbine farm on 80 hectares of Crown land west of the Mersey River, under its Renewall Energy subsidiary.

He told QCCR this week that the company is still on track to erect its first batch of windmills by late 2026.

“We still hope to start in the next few months and take advantage of the summer season,” Roscoe said in an interview.

“Turbines are still scheduled to arrive likely next June, but generally the middle of next year. It’s still our plan to do 20 turbines in ’26 and 13 turbines in ‘27.”

Roscoe said most of the site-clearing work has been done. And he expects crews to begin working on the roads this spring and summer.

“We would’ve all loved to have a shovel in the ground by now, but we’re still on schedule for ’26.”

There’s a lot of excitement locally about the project, which promises to sell electricity directly to consumers, bypassing Nova Scotia Power. And Renewall says their rates will be lower and more stable than the privately owned utility.

When about 24 windmill blades showed up in Port Mersey Commercial Park in Brooklyn recently, people thought they were for the Mersey River project.

Roscoe says that equipment doesn’t belong to them. Those are for a wind farm in Benjamins Mill near Falmouth.

“Those are going to a project in Hants County. But that is the same route that we’re planning to use for all of our components, not just the blades.”

Roswall has about 30 commercial, industrial and institutional customers signed up for Mersey River Wind so far, including the Region of Queens and other municipal governments in Halifax, Shelburne and Bridgewater.

And he said hundreds of individuals have added their names to a list of early residential customers. Those who live near the wind farm, essentially anybody in Queens County, will get priority access.

“With many of our customers, there’s this push for stability, especially in the public sector where you’re trying to operate under a fixed budget. If your electricity cost goes up, your cost of water treatment goes up, but if you can stabilize your cost of energy well that major input into your water treatment cost is now is now stabilized and predictable. I suggest that climate and so forth, bring us together, but it’s really the commercial terms that they could save money and have predictability going forward which really is what gets people the most excited.”

Roscoe says the company’s community liaison committee will keep people updated as construction begins.

Residents can also subscribe to the company’s newsletter on the Mersey River Wind website and sign up to be a customer on the Renewall Energy website.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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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.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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The Region of Queens approved the next step Tuesday for Mersey River Wind farm development in Milton. (Mersey River Wind)

Queens County residents got one step closer on Tuesday to buying their electricity from wind power.

Region of Queens councillors approved a development agreement to allow a large-scale wind farm to go ahead in Milton.

Halifax-based Roswall Development Inc., the owners of Mersey River Wind, plans to build 33 wind turbines on about 80 hectares of Crown land west of the Mersey River.

Roswall promises to sell power from the wind farm directly to consumers, bypassing Nova Scotia Power, under the name Renewall Energy. 

It will offer electricity to large customers on the South Shore first, and then to residential customers. 

RELATED:

• Queens residents to have say on Milton wind project
• Proposed wind farm could offer Queens an alternative to NS Power

The company says its power rates would be lower than Nova Scotia Power’s. The project is expected to employ 100 people temporarily. It says it could employ up to 12 people full time after the farm is up and running.

David Howell is Roswall’s chief financial officer. He was at the council meeting on Tuesday.

“We will be delivering the electricity across Nova Sotia Power’s grid, paying for the use of the grid essentially. And people will have a choice, I hope, by the time we get to the end of 2025, to buy their power either from Nova Scotia Power or directly from our retail company.”

Roswall is the first in the province to be awarded a licence to sell power directly to consumers under the Renewable to Retail program introduced by the provincial government in 2015.

Under the municipality’s land use bylaw, large-scale wind farms are not automatically allowed in the area as it’s currently zoned. So the company had to apply for a separate agreement with the municipality. 

As part of that process, the municipality held a public hearing on Tuesday morning before its regular council meeting. Only one member of the public spoke against the project. A Milton resident was concerned about the proximity of the turbines to houses in the area and an effect known as shadow flicker. That’s essentially the shadow cast by the turbines on properties on a sunny day.

Mitch Underhay, Roswall’s development manager, said after the meeting that all homes are at least two kilometres away from the development. And one woods camp is about a kilometre away, but the company has reached an agreement with that landowner.

“There are limits of how many hours per year and minutes per day the shadow flicker can land on a receptor, which is usually a home. All of the homes around Milton are well outside of that, so they shouldn’t experience any shadow flicker at all.”

Much of the land is on former Bowater Mersey property. Because of much of it is already cleared, Underhay said there should be minimal environmental impact on the site. Staff will be on site to clear any vegetation or trees that might interfere with power lines or turbines, he said. No chemical sprays will be used.

The owners of two concrete companies spoke in favour of the development agreement. Bridgewater Ready Mix and South Shore Ready Mix hope to win some work with the project.

Joel Westin, president and owner of Bridgewater Ready Mix, told councillors there are many advantages to the project – local jobs, greener energy and potentially lower power rates.

“We in the ready mix industry also have a commitment to net zero and to achieve that we need renewable power. And we intend to become customers of the Mersey Wind project once it starts.”

Mayor Darlene Norman said the project could eventually generate up to $800,000 in tax revenue for the municipality.

“It is a good thing for Queens County and it was wonderful to have 100 per cent approval from council on this matter,” she said in an interview.

“It’s a big project for Queens and it is one that should be welcomed by people who understand that green energy is the important energy.”

Securing the development agreement with Queens County was one the last steps before the company can begin construction. Howell said it is in the final stages of working out a lease agreement for the Crown land in Milton. 

The development agreement approval is still subject to an appeal process, until April 4.

Howell said they hope to begin construction by this summer.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

A public hearing is scheduled for March 12 on a proposed wind farm in Milton. (Mersey River Wind)

A public hearing on a proposed wind farm development in Milton is scheduled for March 12 in council chambers at the Region of Queens offices in Liverpool.

The region plans to sign a development agreement with Roswall Development Inc., the owners of Mersey River Wind. The company would build 33 wind turbines on about 80 hectares of Crown land near the Mersey River.

The Halifax-based company is negotiating with the Nova Scotia government to lease the land. Under the municipality’s land use bylaw, large-scale wind farms are not automatically allowed on the land as it’s currently zoned.

Councillors voted Feb. 13 to move ahead with the agreement. As part of the process, though, a public hearing must be held before it moves further.

The hearing is set for Tues. March 12 at 9 a.m., which will be before council’s regular meeting. The staff report that council relied on at its Feb. 13 meeting is available here. More information about the hearing is available on the region’s website here. 

Roswall promises to sell power from the wind farm directly to consumers, bypassing Nova Scotia Power. It says it will offer it to large customers on the South Shore first, and then to residential customers. The company says its power rates would be lower than Nova Scotia Power’s. The project is expected to employ 100 people temporarily.

Anybody can speak at the hearing. Written submissions must be sent to the region at least two business days before March 12 to mmacleod@regionofqueens.com. 

Copies of the supporting documents are available at the region’s office at 249 White Point Road, Monday to Friday. 

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Photo contributed by Privateer Days Commission

With a new board in place and the province set to lift COVID restrictions Privateer Days is back on for 2022.

The event held each year in Privateer Park along the Mersey River waterfront in Liverpool was cancelled the past two years due to COVID.

Newly elected president Ashley Whynot says the goal this year will be on keeping the event family friendly and historically focused.

“Instead of doing a beer tent this year we’re actually going to keep it as a child-friendly entertainment tent because we have some local bars and pubs that we want to support as well and are very close to where our festivities are going to be,” said Whynot.

She says many people have asked about bringing back the fairground rides but unfortunately organizers have been unable to secure a provider.

“Children don’t so much pay attention to the historical side, which kind of a sin,” said Whynot. “But they love the pirates and they always love the rides and I wish we could’ve done that for them.”

Whynot says the organizers are aware how deeply the pandemic has impacted many of the people and businesses involved with Privateer Days.

They have removed the entry fee to participate in the parade and will be lowering fees for vendors to set up at the event.

“We’re not going to say, can you pay $700 to come, bring your food truck for the weekend because we know right now, that’s just not feasible,” said Whynot. “We’re trying to work with everybody and hopefully we meet everybody’s expectations.”

Whynot says Privateer Days relies on having 30 or so volunteers each day to operate the event.

Anyone wishing to be involved can contact the board on the Privateer Days Facebook page.

The event will run the weekend of June 24 through 26 which means Whynot, and the rest of the organizers have a lot to do in a short amount of time.

“We only have four months to put this together so we’re going to do the best that we can in the time that we have.”

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

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Olivia and Garfield Gallant-Zwicker alongside the Mersey River. Photo Ed Halverson

A brother sister team at South Queens Middle School are part of classes hoping their science experiment will lead to a cleaner Mersey River.*

Two classes of grade-seven students have been testing sites up and down the Mersey since October tracking levels of enterococci bacteria in the water.

Garfield Gallant-Zwicker says they were inspired by teacher Jill Leuschner’s lessons about another student who took on a similar mission.

“We started learning about Stella Bowles and personal empowerment, which is where you feel like you can make positive change,” said Gallant-Zwicker. “Stella had tested the LaHave River so that gave us the idea to test the Mersey River.”

Gallant-Zwicker says the results of that testing were not good.

“The level is 70, you should not swim and [at] 170ml, the water should not come in contact with your skin. We had over 170,” said Gallant-Zwicker.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, enterococci are indicators of the presence of fecal material in water and, therefore, of the possible presence of disease-causing bacteria, viruses, and protozoa. These pathogens can sicken swimmers and others who use rivers and streams for recreation.

The siblings brought their findings to Region of Queens Council in the hope the municipality would take action to stop whatever was polluting the river.

Mayor Darlene Norman explained, unfortunately, there is little the region can do on its own.

“As a municipality, we can not go traipsing across people’s properties,” said Norman. “We are legally not allowed, besides, it’s a homeowner’s responsibility to have a functioning system.”

Garfield’s sister Olivia Gallant-Zwicker says they didn’t get as much support as they hoped but council did point them in the right direction.

“We were kind of hoping that council would help us more. They did encourage us to go right to (Queens-Shelburne MLA) Kim Masland and (MP for South Shore-St. Margarets) Bernadette Jordan, which we did,” said Gallant-Zwicker.

Regional council did go a step further and wrote a letter on behalf of the students to the provincial environment minister.

The response from then Minister Gordon Wilson said, “Nova Scotia Environment does not undertake water quality studies or prepare/undertake remediation plans. In instances where water quality impairments are suspected, the development, funding, and undertaking of these types of projects are often led by local organizations, to which we may provide guidance upon request.”

The students decided to reach out to the same organization that had worked with Stella Bowles, Coastal Action.

Assistant director Shanna Fredericks says she will join the students in collecting samples and conduct what is known as parallel testing to validate their results.

“The kids are going to collect their water samples as they normally do and test them with the equipment that they’ve been using and I’m going to collect some samples right alongside them and take them to our lab in the city, so an accredited laboratory. We’ll have those samples tested at the lab and then we’ll compare the results and see how they line up,” said Fredericks.

Olivia Gallant-Zwicker says once they had taken the water samples, their process is relatively simple.

“We incubated it for 72 hours,” said Gallant-Zwicker. “After that, all the dots on the cards would show up and, [it was a] surprising amount.”

Fredericks says to see young people tackle these large problems is inspiring.

“It’s just great to see these kids feeling empowered and passionate about environmental issues and being able to follow in Stella’s footsteps and see that they can actually make a difference,” said Fredericks.

Now that they’ve found their community partner, the students will continue taking water samples from the Mersey and documenting their findings.

Garfield Gallant-Zwicker says their end goal is simple.

“We’re hoping to see at the end of this that our water will return to how it used to be, nice and clean, so then people can swim into it.”

*The story has been changed to reflect the two classes of SQMS students involved in the water testing project.

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

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