Dartmouth Cove

On September 9th, staff returned to council with a report from a motion moved by Councillor Austin in 2023:

"Request that staff engage with the federal government to explore the Minister’s willingness to adopt or otherwise permit further restrictions with respect to infilling in Dartmouth Cove and prepare a supplemental staff report regarding the initiation of by-law amendments to the Regional Centre Secondary Municipal Planning Strategy to restrict water lot infilling in Dartmouth Cove."

And on June 18, 2024:

"Halifax Regional Council direct: 1. That the Mayor write the Federal Minister of Transport expressing HRM’s objection to Transport Canada’s recent approval of infill in Dartmouth Cove without consultation with HRM and requesting that the Department rescind or pause the approval to allow HRM sufficient time to bring in a bylaw. 2. That the Mayor write the Federal Minister of Fisheries thanking the Department for extending the consultation period for Dartmouth Cove and requesting that the Department wait on granting any permits in Dartmouth Cove until HRM can bring in a by-law; and 3. The Chief Administrative Officer to prepare a staff report with respect to initiating amendments to the Regional Centre Plan and Land-Use By-law to impose restrictions on infilling water lots in Dartmouth Cove like those that exist already in the Northwest Arm."

The staff recommendation in the report was to defer any bylaw changes, and wait for the Downtown Dartmouth Waterfront Plan (DDWP) which is expected to be complete in late 2026. For Councillor Austin and Friends of Dartmouth Cove, this left a gap, where the cove could be unilaterally changed through infilling in advance of that planning being done.  Infilling of the water lots of Dartmouth Cove is central to the debate, as Atlantic Road Construction and Paving Ltd. (ARCP), wants to infill about 100,000 cubic metres of pyritic slate on their 2.7-hectare water lot on Dartmouth Cove (source).

Councillor Austin asked to defer, as he wanted time for staff to amend the report to include another option for Council to consider - a more conservative approach with the same restrictions to infilling that were applied to the Northwest Arm. HRM had support from our federal and provincial counterparts for by-law changes in the Northwest Arm, and despite asking for the same consideration for Dartmouth Cove, HRM has not received a definitive answer. I suspect the recommendation from staff to wait on infilling restrictions until the DDWP is complete is because we have not received any confirmation that restrictive infilling by-laws will be acceptable to all levels of government.  

On September 23rd, the amended report came back to council, with the option of Northwest Arm level restrictions on infilling (Option 3 of the report here).  The staff recommendation was defeated, and Option 3  successfully passed by a vote of 14-3, where I also voted in favor.

My vote was informed by several factors highlighted in debate:

• There is precedence for utilizing restrictive by-laws in advance of having a comprehensive planning guidelines.
• There is precedence for having restrictive infilling by-laws - as is the case with the Northwest Arm.
• The center plan is updated every 6 months, so there will be many opportunities to amend by-laws when we have better planning guidance to inform infilling decisions. 
• Moving ahead with these bylaw changes will provide clear opportunities for other levels of government to state their position, as HRM has been waiting for direction since 2023. Federal and provincial positions on Dartmouth Cove are essential, as the municipal by-laws on restrictive infilling can only exist with the support of all levels of government. 
• There is obviously wide community support to preserve Dartmouth Cove, and Council received an enormous amount of correspondence on the matter. 

Sam Austin, Councillor for District 5 and representing Dartmouth Cove has written extensively on the state of Dartmouth Cove and the challenges ahead. His latest blog post (here) is a great accounting of the situation if you seek further reading.