{"id":6994,"date":"2024-03-27T17:43:17","date_gmt":"2024-03-27T20:43:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/?p=6994"},"modified":"2024-03-27T17:43:17","modified_gmt":"2024-03-27T20:43:17","slug":"work-at-carters-beach-may-interrupt-early-summer-sun-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2024\/03\/27\/work-at-carters-beach-may-interrupt-early-summer-sun-plans\/","title":{"rendered":"Work at Carters Beach may interrupt early summer sun plans"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Aerial

Carters Beach. Photo from Nova Scotia Provincial Parks Facebook page<\/p><\/div>\n

The Nova Scotia government has begun work to turn Carters Beach into a provincial park. That means visitors to the popular Queens County destination will likely have more places to park this summer. <\/span><\/p>\n

But they may have to seek out other beaches nearby depending on the progress of the project.<\/span><\/p>\n

The province announced in November that it would designate Carters Beach a provincial park. The designation also includes several islands just off shore. Carters Beach Provincial Park will cover about 97 hectares and include the Spectacle Islands, Jackies Island and others.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Department of Natural Resources and Renewables is spending about $2 million on the project, which includes two new paved parking lots, garbage facilities, signage and accessible outhouses.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It also includes a trail from the new parking lot down to the beach. That trail will be about 500 metres long and is planned to have a gentle slope and made of compacted crusher dust to make it easier to navigate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sandra Fraser, a parks promotion officer with the department, said Wednesday that the department hopes to have the parking lots finished by July. But the overall project end date is June 2025.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWork is underway now to build a new parking lot off the Central Port Mouton Road and that parking lot is going to have roughly 75 parking spaces, including some accessible parking space.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOn the Carters Beach Road, the existing parking lot there is getting some improvements so the parking there will be a bit better defined. So there will be roughly 18 spots down there including some accessible spots.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Work has begun on Carters Beach Provincial Park. A new parking lot on Central Port Mouton Road will hold up to 75 cars. And another parking lot on Carters Beach Road will hold 18 cars. (Rick Conrad)<\/p><\/div>\n

Fraser said work is on hold right now because of spring weight restrictions, but it will soon resume.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to get as much done as possible before the peak of the summer. But since the timeline is still 2025, there could be some work going on.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDefinitely want to be much ahead of that. The goal is to get the parking lot done before July this year. But it may take longer to add some of the extra parts, the toilets and just finishing those pieces.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Fraser said that beachgoers this summer should keep an eye on the department\u2019s parks website and its social media channels before packing for the beach.<\/span><\/p>\n

She said there are still other great beaches in the area for people to enjoy, such as Summerville Beach or Thomas Raddall Provincial Park.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so many beautiful beaches in Queens County. So lots of place to go.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Area residents have been frustrated over the years as Carters Beach became a hugely popular destination. The small parking area at the end of Carters Beach Road was barely big enough for a few cars. So visitors lined both sides of the narrow road, regularly blocking people\u2019s access to their driveways and making it difficult to get in and out of the area.<\/span><\/p>\n

Residents also complained about garbage and human waste being left on the beach and among the sensitive dunes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fraser said the department held an information session with the community in November 2022.<\/span><\/p>\n

When the work is finished, Fraser says the department hopes it will address residents\u2019 concerns.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cI think this added infrastructure will support people enjoying the beach without leaving as much impact.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Listen to the audio version of this story below<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/cartersbeachworkstorymar2724.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Nova Scotia government has begun work to turn Carters Beach into a provincial park. That means visitors to the popular Queens County destination will likely have more places to park this summer. But they may have to seek out other beaches nearby depending on the progress of the project. The province announced in November […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,5],"tags":[807,1944,518,1943,1945,1946,1942,1947,923,49,1055],"class_list":["post-6994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-news","category-news-posts","tag-beach","tag-beaches","tag-carters-beach","tag-carters-beach-provincial-park","tag-carters-beach-road","tag-central-port-mouton-road","tag-natural-resources-and-renewables","tag-parking","tag-provincial-parks","tag-queens-county","tag-sandra-fraser"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6994"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6994\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6997,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6994\/revisions\/6997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}