Frequently Asked Questions
Interested in knowing more about the proposed infill project? Learn more about the work that's being proposed and better understand the impacts to the surrounding community.
Learn more about what's being proposed
The company chose Dartmouth Cove because they were able to purchase a pre-Confederation water lot. These lots, unlike most water bodies, are in private hands. The jurisdiction for these lots is fairly limited, and there are few rules that the Municipality or the Province have to oversee how these lots are used. The company is choosing to try and exploit the legal loopholes that surround these lots for profit by getting paid to dispose of fill from nearby construction sites. Although there are no current zoning regulations or plans for this lot, ultimately the developer is hoping that they can develop that newly created land.
The lot is owned by a numbered company which is affiliated with Atlantic Road Contruction and Paving.
The current owner of the land, Bruce Wood (affiliated with ARCP), purchased the pre-Confederation water lot in April of 2021. The easement for the waterfront trail and the wastewater infrastructure that it sits upon, was negotiated with the previous owner and would have been a condition of the sale of the lot. The easement runs with the land, and not the property owner, so any suggestions that the access can be revoked by Wood are inaccurate.
One Dartmouth Cove is a marketing campaign by Atlantic Road Construction & Paving (ARCP) to sell their proposed infill project in Dartmouth Cove. Despite glossy renderings and invented terms like “eco-infilling,” it is not a community initiative, not a park, and not approved.
This is just the newest name in a string of rebrands:
Dartmouth Cove Waterfront Infill Project
Dartmouth Cove Waterfront Access Project
Dartmouth Cove Remediation Project
Now: One Dartmouth Cove
The facts haven’t changed:
The plan would dump over 100,000m³ of pyritic slate and quarry rock into Dartmouth Cove.
It would permanently destroy 2.7 hectares of marine water and habitat.
It jeopardizes taxpayer investment and world-class research at COVE.
It has no approvals from HRM for access, infill, or zoning.
One Dartmouth Cove isn’t about saving the Cove, it’s about turning public water into private land for profit.
The company behind the infill proposal, ARCP, is claiming that because Dartmouth Cove was used as a dumping ground for raw sewage and industrial waste, that the area is unfit for anything other than infill. While it is true that waste was dumped in the Cove, and Halifax Harbour for years, local citizens advocated for years for proper waste water treatment. In 2008, a proper waste water treatment plant was opened and Halifax Harbour, along with Dartmouth Cove was cleaned up. This has allowed for recreational and fishing activities to recently resume in the area.
Dartmouth Cove is not a contaminated site in need of “remediation.” ARCP is using this word as cover for infilling. What they propose is not cleaning up existing pollution, it’s adding truckloads of waste material into the harbour.
As of September, 2025 - there are no active developments that have been publically tied to the infill of this lot. The Halifax Port Authority has approved sequestration sites ready to go today, where pyritic slate can be safely disposed of for any ongoing developments. Final approvals have not been received from all governing bodies to proceed with the infill. It would be irresponsible development to tie any timeline or dependancies of any upcoming or ongoing project to this lot infill that has already undergone 2 years of delays with approvals.
No. ARCP has already told HRM Councillors that the infilled land would not be suitable for grass or park space. They would need to add considerable amounts of substrate for grass on top of the infill which they have said is not feasilble. Their website renderings of community green space are fiction. This is a private real estate scheme, not a community park.
While HRM is experiencing an unprecedented need for housing, allowing the infill project with hopes of further development, is not the solution. As Councilor Sam Austin and MLA Claudia Chender have repeatedly mentioned, the zoning regulation for the land would only allow for zoning of the Dartmouth Commons - so essentially, parkland. If the developers chose to hold the city hostage, and refused to redevelop the land for anything other than mixed use, this likely will not be for affordable housing.
It’s true that infilling has been used within the Harbour for other projects such as King’s Wharf and the Cargo terminal in Bedford Basin. However, these were areas that had future development plans outlined as part of their project. This was not dumping for the purpose of getting rid of pyritic slate or to simply to create new land that could possibly be developed. There are also publicly designated sites throughout HRM where pyritic slate can be properly disposed of in a safe manner without ever using a private site such as this.
The developer states in his proposal that during infill, “Infilling activities will be visually monitored, and additional mitigation will be implemented as necessary in the event that a visible sediment plume migrates beyond the silt curtain.” Essentially there will be no testing of water quality or anything beyond waiting for a problem to be observed and trying to fix it after the fact.
After the waste water treatment system was opened in 2008, Dartmouth Cove has become an increasingly more attractive area for wildlife and recreational activities. Fish, lobster, seals, river otters and other animals have all been spotted in the Cove. Infilling in other areas of the Harbour already impacts fishing activity that has been running for years withing the Harbour.
There have been 115 bird species recorded in Dartmouth Cove on eBird.ca, two of which are species listed under Canada's Species at Risk Act: Barrow's Goldeneye and Harlequin Duck.
In addition to wildlife, local residents have been using the Cove more frequently for kayaking, canoeing, paddle boarding and other recreational activities.
While the developer claims that the project is in early stages and they intended on consulting with the community once they received approval, it’s more likely that they were hoping that this proposal would move through the process unnoticed until it was too late. With pre-Confederation water lots, only federal approval is needed, and they’re primarily concerned with navigation rights. As of April 2024, the Atlantic Road Construction and Paving has yet to hold any type of consultation with the community.
The developer claims that there have been discussions about preserving access to the waterfront trail during the course of the project, however, no one in the municipality seemed to be aware of this project before concerned parties brought the proposal to light. They have outlined that there are times when the trail would need to be closed for safety reasons. There is no specifics given on how long this time period would be.
In addition to closing the trail for safety reasons, it can be assumed that when the trail is open, heavy machinery, dust and noise will make it an unusable option for many pedestrians and cyclists.