{"id":7997,"date":"2024-12-11T17:54:42","date_gmt":"2024-12-11T21:54:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/?p=7997"},"modified":"2024-12-11T17:55:08","modified_gmt":"2024-12-11T21:55:08","slug":"stronger-coastal-protections-needed-queens-councillors-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2024\/12\/11\/stronger-coastal-protections-needed-queens-councillors-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Stronger coastal protections needed, Queens councillors say"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A

Region of Queens councillors want to try to find a way to resurrect the Coastal Protection Act. (File photo by Talla Corkum)<\/p><\/div>\n

Region of Queens councillors want to work with other neighbouring municipalities to pressure the province to resurrect the Coastal Protection Act and possibly to come up with their own version.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Nova Scotia government under Tim Houston killed the long-dormant Coastal Protection Act in February. Supporters of that legislation said it would beef up safeguards for coastal areas around Nova Scotia.<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, the province said it would pass that responsibility onto municipalities to come up with their own bylaws to protect the coast from development, climate change and other threats. It offered to create sample bylaws that municipalities could adapt.<\/span><\/p>\n

But many municipalities say they don\u2019t have the resources to enforce such wide-ranging rules.<\/span><\/p>\n

District 3 Coun. Courtney Wentzell said he heard from a lot of residents during the municipal election campaign who were concerned about coastal protection. And he said it was clear from the recent provincial election that the province has no interest in taking it on.<\/span><\/p>\n

He said he wants the Region of Queens to discuss banding together with other regions like the Municipality of the District of Lunenburg to come up with a common set of rules.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSome of you might have witnessed the leadership debates where the government is not backing down on coastal protection, they\u2019re leaving it to municipalities,” Wentzell said. <\/span><\/p>\n

“The answers that I heard was that there is going to be assistance in the form of money or manpower to help municipalities create their own (bylaws). I think that’s the reality we’re dealing with. And I do think coastal protection is a big, big item with us. We all heard it on the campaign trail.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The issue came up at a recent meeting of the Nova Scotia Federation of Municipalities.<\/span><\/p>\n

NSFM President Pam Mood, who is also the mayor of Yarmouth, called on the re-elected Houston government to institute provincewide rules and enforcement.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mayor Scott Christian said working with the federation to pressure the province is a good first step.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe NSFM is an augmented voice, so it\u2019s a lot stronger. If we join forces with the NSFM and say we need resources and support to enact an effective approach to the Coastal Protection Act. It’s an avenue we can explore to be supported throughout it. It\u2019s not the entirety of the picture, but it\u2019s an important first step.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Queens councillors decided to write a letter of support to the federation, and to meet with other municipal politicians to come up with ways to enhance coastal protections.<\/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\/12\/coastalprotectionmunidec1124.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Region of Queens councillors want to work with other neighbouring municipalities to pressure the province to resurrect the Coastal Protection Act and possibly to come up with their own version. The Nova Scotia government under Tim Houston killed the long-dormant Coastal Protection Act in February. Supporters of that legislation said it would beef up safeguards […]<\/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":[2707,1944,1059,1794,797,2708,2595,378,2709,241,422,964,49,24,226,98],"class_list":["post-7997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-news","category-news-posts","tag-beach-access","tag-beaches","tag-climate-change","tag-coastal-protection","tag-coastal-protection-act","tag-coastline","tag-courtney-wentzell","tag-development","tag-floods","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nova-scotia-federation-of-municipalities","tag-pam-mood","tag-queens-county","tag-region-of-queens","tag-scott-christian","tag-tim-houston"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7997","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=7997"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7997\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7999,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7997\/revisions\/7999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}