Rural residents show displeasure with planning proposals

By Nadine Armstrong

The Hants Journal

NovaNewsNow.com

Residents packed the municipal council chambers for a Feb. 21 public hearing to introduce the proposed West Hants Municipal Planning Strategy.

Many questions were asked and well answered, but two areas of concern were highlighted as a sore point for residents. Both involved rural designations and, secondly, the restrictions placed on the use of farmland.

Residents of Mt. Denson were disturbed to learn that evening that they may soon be living in a hamlet. The proposed strategy introduced the rezoning, which would effectively put an end to the hope of ever receiving municipal water and sewer service for the area.

According to the proposed strategy, any extension of those services would be limited only to designated growth areas such as Falmouth and Three Mile Plains. This came as a bit of a surprise for some since a public meeting had already been arranged to review costs of installing water and sewer infrastructure in the Mt. Denson area.

Planning Advisory Committee (PAC) chairperson Coun. Shirley Pineo said the option for water and sewer services in Mt. Denson was never really on the table. “There is no capacity in the sewer plant to take on Mt. Denson, and until we raise the dam in Falmouth we just don’t have the water.” She said the point of next week’s meeting would be to give residents the information they had asked for -- what the updated cost would be should water and sewer infrastructure be available at some point.

Protecting rural zones

The planning department explained that the designation of ‘Hamlet’ was made in the residents’ best interests. Currently, Mt. Denson is zoned for general use, which means there are no real restrictions on development in the area.

“The benefit of a hamlet is the protection of land values and so land-owners will have some assurance of what can or cannot be built next door to them,” assistant planner Jane Sodero said.

West Hants planning defines a hamlet as any small rural centre that includes a focal point such as a church or hall and includes some small businesses. A hamlet is designated primarily for residential development only.

“We’re trying to preserve our rural areas of rural use,” Sodero said.

If that is the case, argued resident Michael George, why bother with the re-zoning if there is no infrastructure to support industry anyway. “The statement that we can’t have sewer or water if we are a hamlet should be taken out,” he said. “We don’t have the water supply for industry anyway.”

George said, “I feel hamlets will be put in cold storage until the growth centres run out of room and need to expand. Right now, you’re freezing us in time.”

Senior planner Lynn Davis told residents that the designation does not mean service could never be extended to that area, but at this point, with the rising cost of infrastructure, it just isn’t a possibility for the near future. “Because the cost to extend services to new areas is so high any extension would be intended for designated growth areas. Anything out of a growth area is simply not going to be serviced with municipal water and sewer.”

For that reason alone, Coun. Rick Gaudet, who represents the area, said he would be voting against the strategy when the time comes. “Not giving the option for sewer or water is against these people’s rights,” he said.