Professionals weigh-in on campground application

Several professionals weighed-in on the Scots Bay campground application at the March 12 PAC meeting, some that were hired by Cape Split Farms.

Harbourside Transportation Consultants senior transportation engineer Michael MacDonald said they were engaged to conduct an independent traffic impact assessment.

He said they found no issue with stopping sight distance, which is what Nova Scotia Public Works considers, in the vicinity of the proposed

intersection campground with the of Pengree Lane and Highway 358. They did find issues with intersection sight distance.

Other issues include a lack of pedestrian facilities to cross Highway 358 from the proposed campground to Wharf Road and the provincial park. He said this would be a municipal responsibility, not provincial.

He said there is a certain “uniqueness” with the level of truck traffic in the area associated with chicken farming, and “inadequacy” of road alignment and lane width through the double reverse curves at the intersection.

“These were the main points that led to our recommendation that there needs to be further study and perhaps mitigation measures before the campground is put in place,” MacDonald said.

Athena Koros, a chartered professional accountant, said she had been retained by

Cape Split Farms to prepare a “due diligence” assignment on the proposed campground. They hired Harbourside to

assessment. prepare the traffic impact

She said expertise in several fields is needed to assess this type of development.

“What concerns my team the most, and my client, is that the proponent was not required to hire any of these specialists to determine if the staff and elected officials when asking questions.

“When there’s conflict in this county, there doesn’t seem to be a mechanism to discuss, resolve, or co-create solutions,” Huntley said.

She pointed out that at the PAC meeting, the committee heard from the public after a vote was taken, “which doesn’t make sense to me.” land was appropriate for this development,” Koros said.

She asked why matters of safety relating to pedestrian infrastructure in the area pointed out by Harbourside, and vehicular access to the site, was not addressed in the staff report.

Coldbrook,

Gary Morton, of an agricultural advisor and consultant, said he was retained by Cape Split Farms to prepare an agricultural land use review regarding the application that was shared with planning staff.

He concluded that the application, in his view, ignores non-agricultural development policy for land zoned A2 and warned that it could set a “dangerous precedent.”

He said it allows nonagricultural development on Class 3 and Class 4 soils; increases the potential for conflict between agriculture and the public; will likely increase biosecurity risks and costs for area poultry producers; ignores the provincial statement of interest on agriculture; and doesn’t give reasons why the subject property isn’t suitable for agricultural production.

James Millard, of Scots

Bay, a professional engineer with expertise in hydrogeology and other fields, said his personal perspective is that the campground proposal has “needlessly turned many Scots Bay residents’ lives upside down over the last several years.”

He said his opinion is that the positive economic and

community social benefits to the from the proposal have not been demonstrated by the proponent.

Millard said his professional opinion is that ground water resources throughout the North Mountain basalts, including the Scots Bay area, are reported to be limited and couldn’t be counted on to meet more than domestic needs. Some wells in the campground area are reported to be seasonably dry. to date has only heightened the fear there is more development than meets the eye,” she said.

Roscoe-Huntley is concerned over having to incur expenses she estimates at $50,000 to secure the property to prevent potential contamination of meat products and the possible theft of firewood by campers.

Dale Steele Nikolov, of

Scots Bay, said it isn’t right for any one family of developers to “disturb the harmony and peace of an entire village.”

She said Google maps shows her property as the way to Amethyst Cove and she has spent thousands of dollars to stop this liability issue.

“With the increased traffic and people trespassing all over my land, this is going to be accentuated. I’m not looking forward to that,” she said.

Steele Nikolov called what is being proposed a “danger to public safety” and “our quality of life will never be the same.”