Application filed to infill part of Arm
Another application to infill a section of the Northwest Arm in Halifax has been filed.
Amanda Armelin has applied to have the project for her waterfront property at 760 Maplewood Lane be approved by Transport Canada, according to a notice in The Chronicle Herald on Friday.
“Work entails the construction of a new higher and structurally sound seawall retaining wall, infilling behind this new wall to the existing stone seawall,” Armelin wrote in her application.
“Water has breached over the existing seawall the last few large storms. The extra infill allows the grade to be sloped more gradually and stop erosion into the water.”
The specifics of how far out the new seawall is from the existing seawall and how much would need to be infilled is not included in the online application.
If approved, Armelin projects the construction will be finished by the end of February 2022.
Armelin’s application marks the second application in recent months to infill a section of the Northwest Arm.
Andrew Metlege — who heads Templeton Properties — applied to infill more than 45 metres from the shoreline in front of a house he recently bought a few doors south of Coburg Road on the east side of the Arm in late June.
The spot is a pre-confederation water lot, so if Transport Canada gives Metlege permission to infill in front of his property assessed at $3.06 million, he’s one step closer to being able to start dumping fill in the Arm.
Metlege’s plan for 1454 Birchdale Ave. would see the infill rise more than a metre above the high tide mark and cover 1,668 square metres of what is now water.
The application was met with pushback from nearby neighbours and lobster fishers and sailors who frequent the Northwest Arm.
Allan Shaw, who lives next door to Metlege, said a formal objection to the application has been filed to Transport Canada.
“We’re fed up with the appropriation of public waters to create private land,” Shaw said. “It has to be stopped.”
Halifax MP Andy Fillmore said if he is re-elected, he would “fight to protect the Northwest Arm infilling.”
“I’ve already been in repeated contact with relevant federal ministers to express our view that the infilling must not be allowed to continue,” Fillmore said at Horseshoe Island Park during an outdoor news conference on a humid, foggy Friday morning.
Fillmore promised to seek a federal navigation study through Transport Canada on how infilling would affect navigation in the area, as well as support continued efforts to review infilling under the Canadian Navigable Waters Act, the Impact Assessment Act and the Fish and Fish Habitat Protection Program.
Fillmore said the federal election has put a review on Metlege’s application on pause.
Lisa Christensen, environmentalist and chair of World Cleanup Day Canada, said if one application is approved, it could have a domino effect.
“The consequences of infilling could be so disastrous and it could open up the door to so many more,” Christensen said. “Imagine if oceanfront property owners all over the province started doing this.”