Blue Beach Museum puts expansion plan on the table

By Jennifer Hoegg

NovaNewsNow.com

Blue Beach Fossil Museum wants to expand, and it has approached Kings County Council with a plan to do so.

In response to a proposal from the Blue Beach Fossil Museum, Kings County Council will hold a public hearing Sept. 27 on proposed amendments to the Municipal Planning Strategy and Land Use Bylaw.

If passed, the policy change will allow for owners of other special sites in the county to propose associated uses not currently allowed under zoning regulations.

County council has approved staff recommendations to implement a county-wide amendment, which provides for uses not normally permitted in a zone and allows alternate subdivision and lot standards for unique historic places possessing heritage value. Properties of heritage value could include those of historic, aesthetic or cultural value.

In the case of the Blue Beach Museum, located at 127 Blue Beach Road, the bylaw amendment could allow for subdivision of the current lot and development of a commercial museum property. In order for this to take place, a development agreement will have to be accepted by county council.

Director Sonya Wood and curator Chris Mansky currently run their museum operation out of a Quonset hut and Wood’s basement, with funding from visitor donations. Wood is excited at the idea of giving the site its proper due.

With the addition of a new museum building, trained staff and professional equipment, the tens of thousands of pounds of fossil finds stored at the site can be prepared and displayed properly. “We have taken the collection the first mile, but it deserves more.”

Research facility, commercial museum

Wood’s vision for the nine-acre site includes a research facility and commercial museum site. “I hope to see a two-storey museum building with an observation tower to watch the tides.”

In addition to the fossil wealth on the beach, the presence of the world’s highest and fastest rising tides, rare shorebirds and evidence of an Acadian settlement could make the property a key attraction in the area.

Last week’s find of a rare fossil - an ancient tetrapod skull reputed to be 355-million years old - is one of many stunning discoveries at the site.

Dr. Rob Raeside of Acadia’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences serves on the Museum’s 14-member board of directors. Raeside sees the Blue Beach Museum “in the position of the Parrsboro or Joggins museums 10-15 years ago; it’s a locally operated venture with a huge potential.

“It has already collected an impressive array of materials and is poised to develop now into a significant point of interest in Kings/Hants counties. These museums are developing a critical mass where interested visitors can tour them in short period and both learn and ‘do’ the paleontology that’s at the forefront of our understanding of the evolution of vertebrates.”

Municipal planner Dawn Sutherland adds that the Blue Beach Museum proposal has received “numerous letters of support from around the world. There is certainly proof that it’s a significant site.”

Sutherland agrees that the policy change could benefit numerous properties in Kings County, including many potential tourist attractions.