RV decision appealed
Groups claims CBRM council failed to adequately evaluate proposed development as per legal criteria
A group of Big Pond Centre residents has launched an appeal of a Cape Breton Regional Municipality council decision to amend the municipality’s land-use zoning bylaw that in effect allows for the next step in the development of a proposed RV park and campground.
The appeal was filed on March 23 under terms of Nova Scotia’s Municipal Government Act (MGA) and will be heard by the province’s Utility and Review Board (UARB).
Longtime area resident and organic farmer Roy MacInnis is one of seven people whose names are listed as appellants on the appeal that challenges the March 7 council vote of 7-6 to approve the amendment application of Alberta developer Chris Skidmore.
Under the terms of the MGA, an applicant may only appeal on the grounds that the decision “does not reasonably carry out the intent of the municipal planning strategy.”
MacInnis, whose land is adjacent to the site of the proposed RV development, is one of many project opponents who believe that council’s decision did not conform to the spirt of the CBRM’s municipal planning strategy that essentially instructed councillors to only consider the amendment application from the perspective of visual compatibility; dust or fumes emanating from the site; traffic attracted to, and leading from, the site; and noise emanating from the development.
“We addressed that in our presentations and we showed that they couldn’t mitigate the noise, fumes or the dusts — we proved that this shouldn’t go ahead and I feel they just didn’t take that into consideration,” said MacInnis, who is a co-appellant on the appeal along with Maureen Campbell, David Moffatt, Debra Moffatt, Ed MacIntyre, Ann MacIntyre and Helen Doherty.
In its appeal, the group also contends that council should have treated the land-use amendment appeal as being for an amusement park, given that the project proposes recreational activities, that council failed to consider the planning endeavours of the three levels of government, the First Nations Reserves and the Bras d’Or Lakes Stewardship Society, that council failed to take into account the provisions of the municipality’s Climate Control Action Plan and that the decision will adversely affect the value and/or reasonable enjoyment of “our properties and those of our surrounding neighbours.”
CBRM planning director Malcolm Gillis said he fully expects that either he or municipal planner Karen Neville, who worked the proposed RV park land-use case, will be required to appear as witnesses when the UARB board hears the appeal.
Prior to approving the zoning change, council opted to follow the CBRM staff recommendation to only vote on Phase 1 of the undertaking, that if developed could see as many as 211 fully serviced RV sites on land that extends to the shores of the pond, or barachois, known as Lochmore Harbour, about 40 km west of Sydney.
Meanwhile, Skidmore, who is married to Cape Breton singersongwriter Laurel Martell, must still file a building permit application with the municipality. But that application must be accompanied by a number of provincial, and possibly federal, approvals and permits that can only be obtained by meeting strict Nova Scotia Environment Department standards in terms of onsite sewage disposal and available public water supply, along with Transportation Department permission that will only be issued once an accredited traffic study shows that the site access plans meet certain criteria.
Skidmore recently informed the Cape Breton Post that his team plans to work diligently to make the controversial project a reality.