FALL RIVER: The local councillor recently provided an update and confirmed there are appeal(s) in regarding the Carr farm development.
Cathy Deagle Gammon said she met with developer Glen Clark about the development and passed on concerns from residents. She said 113 residents who live in the geographic boundary were allowed to appeal, and that close to 40 had (as of the interview in late November).
“I’ve heard from many residents and gathered their questions, got answers from HRM staff and some answers from the developer, and I’m sharing that with anybody who has some questions, and they can email me, and I’ll give them the information that I have,” said Deagle-Gammon inside her Fall River home.
“The intention of the meeting was to share some of the questions that are coming from the community and find out what their perspective is.”
She said she knows there are 38 individual residents that have registered to appeal the site plan approval. That means it will go to a hearing with the North West Community Council.
“That will be some time in the new year possibly January, in the meantime those persons who made the appeal will be gathering all the information that they need to be able to write what their rational is and also to prepare for how they will speak at five minutes each at the public hearing,” she said.
Three themes emerged from the community concern, said Deagle Gammon.
“One is the traffic impact study; second is an environmental concern with the waste treatment facility and the impact on Lake Thomas; and the third is just the scale,” said Deagle Gammon. “The scale has changed from what was presented in 2015, so what exists now is quite different from what people saw originally.
“If individuals were not following the process this is a big surprise to them, whereas other people, maybe if they had been following, they would have seen that the gradual change in the number.”
She said the perception or thought from the community was that there was a limit of 400 units. That’s actually not the case.
“The zone as it was written, doesn’t name the number of units, and so that is a concern for many, so that that’s the scale issue,” she said.
One of the concerns brought to Deagle Gammon is that the development is much more units, plus 100 for the long-term care facility on the site.
“Now, as it’s presented, it is 500 units, and on the letter, it states how many one bedroom, how many are two bedrooms and a very minimal amount is a three-bedroom and so that’s 500 units, and then the 100-bed long term care facility,
Deagle Gammon said there are other concerns with the planned underground parking and blasting, and the possibility of damage to septic systems from neighbouring residents.
“At the public hearing staff will have a report based on the questions that came through the appeals and so we will get all of that information,” she said.
She said one of the biggest things for a lot of people is the fact that the water treatment plant that was approved by the Nova Scotia Environment and Climate Change.
“They say it meets the criteria, they send a letter to HRM, and our planners tick off the box and says that the province has approved this.”
Deagle Gammon said this report is currently a sticking point for residents.
“We’ve not seen what that report says and at this point the developer is, I hope, deciding whether or not they’re going to make that public,” she said. “It will come out at the public hearing, we’re fairly sure. But it’s up to developer now to say whether or not they’re going to make that public.”
Deagle Gammon said she recognizes that Lake Thomas is important to recreation and the beauty of the area.
“From an environmental point-of-view everyone wants to be assured that whatever company, whatever system is put in place, that it is extremely well managed, that there is expertise, which is on-site if something happens, and not too late,” she said. “We want to make sure what is the prevention, what is the monitoring? How public will the monitoring be? You know that’s a really good question.
“It’s a lot of moving parts. If one of those parts doesn’t move the way we need it to, what could happen?”
“Understanding that science and what’s behind it, and the credibility of the company, all of those things are things that we will learn.”
When the appeal is heard at NWCC, there will be a decision that night, Deagle Gammon said, unless there are any legal challenge that through the information from any of those three parties that there is anything that needs to be re-evaluated or if it needs to be paused to investigate.
The date the public hearing will be held is not known at this time but will be publicized when it’s known.
