The Backlands Coalition

Members of the Coalition were well represented in the gallery at Regional Council on Tuesday. The mayor spoke strongly in favour of the Regional Plan and said it was unlikely he would support any amendments… but final decisions were deferred again. See Metro News Report and Interview with Tristan Cleveland from OurHRM Alliance.

The Redoubt Head Homeowners’ Association (RHHA) has joined the Backlands Coalition as out 10th member. Welcome indeed!

From the Alliance (1/23/2014):
Shocking news has arrived that a number of councillors plan to fundamentally undermine the Regional Plan on Tuesday.
As you know, Steve Adams plans to move that the Urban Reserve behind Purcell’s Cove be designated Rural Commuter for a developer who bought the land five years after it was made Urban Reserve.
David Hendsbee has announced that he will move to have the Urban Reserve in Cherry Brook designated Urban Settlement, Continue reading →

The Backlands Coalition, with nine member groups signed up to date, was officially launched on Friday, Feb. 21, 2014. 

As you may have likely heard (and see posts below), a group of developers is attempting to make last-minute changes to the Regional Plan that would open the land behind Williams Lake to development, a move which would destroy a precious area as well as negate much of what we have gained through the Regional Planning process. Please attend as poss. to show public support for Regional Plan and distaste for the developers’ attempted end run. See Council Agenda

Brendan Maguire, MLA Halifax Atlantic, writes “I believe in responsible development but more importantly, I believe in listening to the people and we the people have spoken loud and clear, we are against the development of our precious Backlands and our voices MUST be heard.” View Letter of Support

Catherine McKinnon of the Purcell’s Cove Area Residents Action Committee has written a letter to the Mayor and Councilors critiquing the letter written by a lawyer on behalf behalf of four developers that own land located in the Purcell’s Cove Backlands. That letter proposes to change the current designation of this land as Urban Reserve to Urban Settlement. Read Critique

A critical event has occurred going forward to the RP+5 public hearing that requires our immediate attention. All of the developers owning the land in the Purcell’s Cove Backlands have joined forces by hiring a law firm and attempting to re-zone the Backlands. Currently the Backlands are zoned Urban Reserve. This group (Clayton, Norm Nahas for Battery Hill Development, Bess Developments & Tanya/Roderick Morrison) has requested a re-zoning to Rural Commuter. Read monre on OurHRM Alliance | Read Halifax Media Co-op release

An article in The Coast describes the context in which the letter from developers was brought forth at the last Regional Council meeting. Regional Council will discuss this at the next meeting (Tuesday Feb 25th), so let your councilor know how you feel!

The Williams Lake Conservation Company has issued a report which documents the plant communities of the Williams Lake backlands. Prominent amongst them: the rare, Jack Pine/Broom Crowberry barrens. “While the survey focused on these lands, many of the findings apply to the larger Purcell’s Cove Backlands. It is noteworthy that the authors advance some novel perspectives on the ecological values of the area. The issues of fire management and wetland protection require attention and discussion by the larger community” says Kathleen Hall of the WLCC. View Summary/Download Report (30 MB)