Eisner Cove Prosecution delayed

Silt fences deteriorate while waiting on court

Eisner Cove and the area cleared for construction near Mount Hope Avenue. Photo by Antonia Zwissler

by Antonia Zwissler

Bill Zebedee crosses the street from his home to the South End Baptist Church in Dartmouth. He’s wearing a black blazer over a t-shirt, good jeans, and black sneakers. He’s setting up PROTECT Eisner Cove Wetland signs. It’s 30 minutes before a press conference he wishes he’d had time to cancel.

“So, yesterday was a shitshow.” He’s speaking candidly before the conference starts. Zebedee is president of the Protect Eisner Cove Wetland society. It’s the day after his Nov. 27 court appearance, where he presented a private prosecution case to a judge, making his case that Clayton Developments Limited is infringing on the Environment Act and on its construction approval by failing to keep silt from construction out of Eisner Cove Wetland.

Legally, Zebedee is not allowed to call it silt. He is arguing that Clayton has infringed on section 67 (1) and 158 (e) of the environment act, that you can’t release potentially harmful substances into the environment and you can’t knowingly breach an environmental assessment approval which Zebedee is saying Clayton did in three places.

On August 1 of this year, Zebedee shared the Nov. 27 date, thinking he would know then whether he’d be granted a case or not.

But on that day, it turned out some information was missing, and Zebedee’s legal representative Jamie Simpson and Brian Cox from Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Service will need to fill in that gap with new submissions to the judge in the next in camera session. This next meeting is scheduled for Jan. 19.

Zebedee is going to court because he says his complaints to Tim Halman’s provincial Department of Environment and Climate Change didn’t affect Clayton’s silty practices.

Neither Clayton nor the Department of Environment and Climate Change responded to Grand Parade’s requests for comment.

Zebedee can list at least six types of trees found in the forest bordering his home and the construction. The taller ones are around 12 metres, and the smaller ones are still less than one metre. The ground is spongy under a cover of warm red and brown leaves. Near the brook, where residents keep finding siltation, it squelches underfoot. The water curves and twirls toward the storm drain, often a pale milky brown after a rain.

Zebedee said the siltuation wasn’t always this serious.