MEMBERTOU WHARF
Membertou Development applies to replace wharf
Application made to replace waterfront wharf.
Membertou Development Corporation has made an application under the federal Navigation Protection Act to replace a wharf along waterfront land it owns in Sydney.
Plans for the project are also on file with the Nova Scotia Land Registry office. They were filed Nov. 10.
No one from Membertou was made available to discuss the project and any other related potential developments prior to deadline.
“We feel this purchase is part of our mission to develop opportunities and employment that could be had in Sydney harbour — we’re committed to developing the harbour and the community of the area and we feel the purchase of this land is key in our mission to do that.” Membertou Chief Terry Paul
Earlier this year, the First Nations community purchased 70 acres of land including 1,000 feet of waterfront at the end of Stable Drive, between Provincial Energy Ventures Ltd. and the Sydney International Pier, which is run by Logistec Corporation and near Harbourside Commercial Park. The area has access to the Sydney Port Access Road.
The land was purchased for $1.2 million from Nova Scotia Lands and the deal took several months to be completed.
A spokesperson for Transport Canada indicated by email that it would not disclose any information about the application, including when a decision on Membertou Development Corp.’s application may be made.
Applying to the Navigation Protection Program involves preparing a “notice to the minister.” The act requires that a notice be submitted by any owner who “proposes to construct, place, alter, repair, rebuild, remove or decommission a work in a waterway on the list of scheduled waters, its website states.
“We feel this purchase is part of our mission to develop opportunities and employment that could be had in Sydney harbour — we’re committed to developing the harbour and the community of the area and we feel the purchase of this land is key in our mission to do that,” Membertou Chief Terry Paul said at the time the land purchase was announced.
He noted that they discovered the land was available in late 2016 and had been pursuing it ever since.
At the time the land was acquired, Paul said they hadn’t yet determined precisely what they would do with it but they believed there were opportunities forthcoming and it would help with the further development of Sydney harbour.
The acquisition came five years after the acquisition of land and waterfront property in Sydport Industrial Park in the spring of 2012 which became the home of Membertou Offshore Inc.
Anyone wanting to comment on the project can write to the manager of the Navigation Protection Program, Transport Canada, P.O Box 42, Moncton NB, E1C 8K6.