Residents concerned over haste, diminished public input

BY KIRK STARRATT

kstarratt@kentvilleadvertiser.ca

NovaNewsNow.com

A group of residents in the Port Williams area is concerned over perceived haste and diminished public input in regard to a proposed farmland rezoning.

An application from Dykeview and Riverbrook Farms to redesignate and rezone about 200 acres of land located roughly between Highway 358 and Collins Road from Agricultural (A1) to Residential Comprehensive Development District (RCDD) has been given first reading. A public hearing is scheduled for Monday, June 30 at 7 p.m. in the Kings County council chambers in Kentville.

Council had voted in May to send the matter to the secondary planning strategy (SPS) process underway in the community, but area councillor Janet Newton moved successfully for reconsideration at the June session.

During the public comment period following the June meeting, Port Williams farmer Brian Newcombe said village commission chairman Lewis Benedict, who made a presentation to council at the May committee of the whole (COTW) session, referred to farmers and nitrates in the village wells.

Newcombe said it was stated recently by another individual that the water commission had asked farmers who were active within the well field zones not to farm. He said it was never communicated to him that farmers couldn’t farm in the well field.

“I farm in the well field and I take farming in the well field seriously,” Newcombe said, pointing out that management is key. He said there’s a problem with the position of some village commissioners that the only way to protect the well field is to develop it.

“Why didn’t they go over best practices with the farmers farming in the well field?” he said.

Port Williams resident Ken Bezanson said he expresses sincere thanks to the councillors who supported referring the rezoning application to the SPS process. “It’s about process and resolution,” he said. “The public hearing is a win-lose.”

Bezanson said the opinion of council was formed on information that’s questionable and egos have to be put aside for the sake of discussing what is best for the community.

Following the session, Bezanson told the media he’s concerned that moving the public hearing date for the proposed rezoning to June 30 - part of an extended Canada Day long weekend for some people - diminishes public input, and that’s what concerned residents want. Bezanson said he has brought this to the municipality’s attention.

He said he called several people to see if they would be available for the June 30 hearing and some said they would not. Bezanson said this isn’t good process.

Slow the process down

In a recent media release, Bezanson stated that the hasty approach the area councillor is taking with regard to rezoning 200 acres of prime agricultural land for residential development is threatening their community’s ability to make sound, well-informed decisions.

He contends that there are sufficient lots and homes available within the village for new families to come to Port Williams over the next few years and other solutions are possible with regard to protecting the well fields.

In the same release, Robin Whidden, a member of the Port Williams SPS committee, asked council to slow the process down.

“The planning advisory group is committed to assessing a full range of options for the village objectively and to consulting the community more broadly,” said Whidden, who is confident the SPS could be tabled within two years. “Approving a project as large in scope as the Dykeview-Riverbrook Farms, when a SPS is already underway, brings into question the role and importance of secondary planning process in this county.”

The concerned residents state that the presentation by Benedict to the COTW in May indicated there’s a need for farming on the well fields to stop in order for nitrate levels to be reduced.

However, Port Williams farmer Rick Rand, who has sent a letter to council, said the spreading of manure contributes only a percentage of the nitrates found in water in the area.

“Using the fact that there are nitrates in the water as an excuse to use that land for development is not an accurate portrayal of the facts regarding the spreading of manure or the viability of the land in issue being sustainable agricultural land,” he said.

Rand is contacting water management experts who are willing to address council to present their facts. He has asked for a time to be slotted as soon as possible for this so the issues can be presented clearly and accurately.