Received this as an email form Halifax North West Trails Association:
Update re Blue Mountain
In case you did not see today’s Chronicle Herald.
Judy
Herald Halifax 05/14/2014, Page W01
Halifax park in limbo
COLIN CHISHOLM
colin.andrew.chisholm@gmail.com
A group of 30 people gathered at Happy Turtle Yoga Studio in Halifax on May 6 to find out what was going on with the Blue Mountain-Birch Cove Lake Regional Park.
Turns out, things are stuck in a bureaucratic logjam.
The park, which would be one of the largest urban parks in Canada, is situated between Bayers Lake, Beechville and Clayton Park. It’s a large untouched landscape filled with lakes, rare species and rich biodiversity.
The largely untouched region replenishes the nearby water sources and the trees store thousands of tons of carbon dioxide.
However, some developers, primarily The Annapolis Group have bought large portions of the land and want to develop new suburbs, even though the province and municipality have already promised it would become a regional park.
The developers purchase of land have made the issue less cut-anddry and now much more complicated, with land deals, swaps, appropriation, and other mechanisms on the table.
It could be a park, it could be developed, and at this point the area’s fate is not certain. Halifax Regional Council will determine what happens in the end, with some councillors for protection, others not .
The city has b een waiting to hire an independent facilitator to figure the whole mess out, and after years of waiting, finally has one, however, it’s not yet known who that person is.
Raymond Plourde, Wilderness Coordinator at the Ecology Action Centre was the keynote speaker at the Happy Frog event, which was sponsored by the Canadian Association of Retired Persons.
Plourde said if citizens want the land to remain as it is, they should increase pressure on council.
“There are many cities that would kill to have this tremendous park asset right next door," Plourde said. “Unfortunately in its current state, it’s very difficult to get to, there are no signs, places to park, so unless you know the sort of secret ways to get in, this place is largely a mystery to residents."
Plourde said the city has been trying to get the area protected since 1971, but has faced multiple speed bumps along the way.
“A group of well-heeled, deep pocketed developers banded together and said ‘no, we want to build a big community here,’" he said. “With every new development, comes the need for services, water, sewer, garbage, schools, all of the taxpayers pay for that."
“This park, you can get to it with a bus ride from downtown," he said. “We want kids to be able to appreciate nature, without having to go to summer camp."
Deputy Premier and Minister of Finance Diana Whalen was part of a panel following the keynote, she said she’s hoping the park will remain a natural area.
“At the first public consultation the province did, they were so amazed that they received around 100 letters, each one was different, explaining why the area is important," Whalen said. “Government’s are used to seeing form letters, where you just add your name and mail it in , but to write your own story is really powerful."
The provincial government protected a portion of adjacent crown land in 2009 with the hope that the municipality wou ld follow suit .
Wendy McDonald, board member of the North West Trails Association , said she was excited to hear a broad range of views on the region.
“If we los e this we los e the opportunity for people like Truman Layton, who have been using the land for years or the young people who can exp erience the wilderness that so many of us have come to take for granted," McDonald said. “I think p eople will go home tonight re-energized getting their friends and family onboard to help." McDonald first hiked through the area in 2004 and said its beauty instantly ‘took her aback.’ The trail association, along with other groups host regular hikes into the Blue Mountain region. “It will be the beginning of the end for a lot of things in Halifax if they take control of this asset that we have," she said.
A panel of experts on the region, including (left to right) Deputy Premier Diana Whalen, Raymond Plourde, Truman Layton, and Ryan Van Horne spoke about the area and took questions from the audience.
Colin Chisholm
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