by Matt Stickland
Last week, Halifax’s city council meeting was dominated by water, as the city is currently facing three aquatic issues: the infilling of Dartmouth Cove, Halifax Water’s rate increase, and getting water to rural residents whose wells have run dry thanks to the ongoing climate emergency which, in spite of promises by politicians, is still on track to end all life on earth.
The Dartmouth Waterfront has been the most recent battleground in Nova Scotia’s ongoing string of political skirmishes, which kicked off when the provincial Tories scrapped the Coastal Protection Act last February. Atlantic Road Construction and Paving, a local company wants to infill their part of the coast and the feds approved their part of that plan. Protecting the coast is now up to the city.
City staff are recommending not changing anything about the Dartmouth waterfront regulations since they’re working on the Downtown Dartmouth Waterfront Revitalization project, which will update the coastal protection bylaws. Councillor Sam Austin wants the city to protect Dartmouth Cove from infilling while staff finishes that plan, so it doesn’t get infilled for it to turn out that it shouldn’t have been. But Austin didn’t have enough time to write his motion, so Dartmouth Cove will be coming back to the next council meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 23.
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