Plotting strategy
Opponents of proposed RV park and campground preparing for public hearing on application for land use bylaw change
Stepping out the backdoor of his farmhouse, Roy MacInnis points to the nearby woods that define the western border of the land that’s been in his family for generations.
“That’s the edge of it over there — if that project goes ahead it will kill our way of life,” said the 66-year-old resident of Big Pond Centre, a quiet rural community that straddles Highway 4 on the south shore of the Bras d’Or Lake, about 40 km west of Sydney.
The proposed undertaking that has MacInnis and many of his neighbours, both permanent and seasonal, up in arms is an RV park and campground that, if approved, would be located on a 109-acre parcel of land adjacent to his property.
MacInnis said he and a niece began recently began organic farming and fear the development would immediately kill their new business in addition to threatening the area’s fragile ecosystem.
Calgary-based developer Chris Skidmore has made an application to have the Cape Breton Regional Municipality’s land use bylaw amended to allow for the Ceilidh on the Lakes project that could include as many as 541 serviced RV sites and a variety of related amenities.
A public hearing on the application is scheduled for Feb. 20 at 1:30 p.m. in the council chamber at city hall.
But project opponents, such as MacInnis’ neighbour Mike Britten, argue that CBRM should have nixed the application rather than setting a public hearing on the matter.
“This threatens the very being of a rural resident — the zoning bylaws of the CBRM are there to protect us, it’s basically like putting an urban village in a rural environment and it’s very disconcerting,” said Britten, a former summer resident who opted to live permanently in the area after he retired.
Another full-time area resident, Lorna MacNeil, agreed with that view and said the oldtimers she has spoken with are astounded that the municipality even has the right to change land use zoning in a rural environment.
“Rural Cape Breton is not supposed to be open to big developments – this is a community over 200 years old that is very self-reliant in making its own decisions,” said MacNeil, who added that even considering a change to the land use bylaw contradicts the spirit of the regulation.
However, opponents of the development say they will attend next week’s public hearing armed with more than just rhetoric.
According to Britten, who formerly served as the program co-ordinator with the Joint Action Group (JAG) that oversaw the cleanup and remediation of Sydney’s infamous tar ponds, a number of valid and substantiated arguments can be made against the proposed RV park.
“With 600 sites that are all going to be wanting water at some point it’s going to be a huge drain on the aquifer and we don’t know what that’s going to entail, are our wells going to dry up, and if they do we’re told that our only recourse is civil action against the proponent,” said Britten.
“We take all the risk and the proponent doesn’t have to take any and that’s very upsetting, we’re risking our way of life here, a lot of us have retired out here.”
While citing other important issues, including increased traffic, highway safety, firefighting services, and water rescue, Britten said there’s great concern within the community that a proper environmental assessment may not be conducted due to what he calls Nova Scotia’s “weak” environmental laws.
“The only trigger that will activate a Class One environmental assessment is wetlands, so if this project adversely affects, alters or destroys more than two hectares of wetlands, and that’s four football fields, then an environmental assessment will be activated,” he said, adding that federal laws are equally non-protective.
“The Fisheries and Oceans Act has no provision for a risk assessment prior to a project like this — the Act only comes into effect in the event of a fish kill or the event of a large siltation of the lake or pond.”
And it’s the body of water that Big Pond is named for that is at risk, according to project opponents. The “barachois,” a coastal lagoon separated from the ocean or lake by a sand bar, is one of 400 such lagoons situated along the coastline of Bras d’Or Lake.
“This is a fragile ecosystem – there is lots of life in the water and it’s all at risk if this development proceeds,” said Britten. “It’s very disconcerting that this project could go ahead without a proper environmental impact assessment, it’s very upsetting.”
Back on his farm, Roy MacInnis muses on what he perceives as a misguided political view of economic development
“CBRM council is always talking about development, well, they’ll probably earn more tax dollars without it,” he said.
“In this area, from one mile on either side of us, there is property assessed at more than $10 million that provides an estimated $140,000 in taxes and all it’s costing them is a few bags to pick up some garbage.”
Area residents first learned of the project last September when Skidmore, whose wife is well-known Cape Breton singer-songwriter Laurel Martell, distributed information pamphlets to area homes before holding a public meeting at the Big Pond fire hall.
A group calling itself Friends of the Pond is holding its own information session on the matter prior to next week’s CBRM public hearing. The meeting is scheduled for Saturday at 5 p.m. at the East Bay fire hall.
Skidmore, who could not be reached on Monday, has previously told the Cape Breton Post that he was interested in attending next Tuesday’s meeting.
Both opponents (Friends of the Pond) and proponents (Ceilidh on the Lakes) have accounts on the popular social media site Facebook.