2022 is drawing to a close, and the "Dartmouth Cove Waterfront Access" project — better known as the Dartmouth Infill project — has yet to receive approval. The application to infill the lot is still in front of the federal government awaiting the final decision.
At our last update on this site, it was noted that Atlantic Road Construction and Paving (ACRP), led by Tom Hickey, was seeking permission from Develop Nova Scotia (DNS) to allow trucks to cross DNS land and access the lot in question. Develop Nova Scotia was in the process of reviewing
this request. Since then, the current Nova Scotia government, led by Tim Houston, has undertaken a restructuring of five crown corporations, including Develop Nova Scotia. This created two new crown corporations, Build Nova Scotia and Invest Nova Scotia. Tim Houston named Tom Hickey to be CEO of Invest Nova Scotia and Wayne Crawley as CEO of Build Nova Scotia. Both were described as "personal friends" of Premier Houston. While Develop Nova Scotia was not directly falling under Invest Nova Scotia and Tom Hickey's domain, the conflict of interest was noted in this Halifax Examiner article and Tom Hickey resigned just two weeks later on August 11th. Invest Nova Scotia will be overseen by Economic Develop Minister Susan Corkum-Greek in the meantime. Develop Nova Scotia (or Build Nova Scotia as it will now fall under) will not be making a decision until the federal government has provided their decision on the application.
In the original proposal to the federal governmment, the application outlined an original start date of August 1, 2022. It was reported by AllNovaScotia on September 8, 2022 that the federal Fisheries and Oceans Department deemed the application they had received (a parallel application to Transport Canada), was incomplete and required additional information. This will likely not receive a decision until sometime in 2023.
In the same AllNovaScotia article, Bruce Wood — the listed CEO of the numbered company who submitted the application and CFO of ACRP — reaffirmed that there is no long-term plan for the project and it is not known what would become of the 4.5 acres of land that would be created.
While it appears that currently the city has limited recourse for what it can do should the federal government give the green light to the project, the city is looking to better understand how it could address the issue of pyritic slate and where to dispose of it. On October 17th, 2022, AllNovaScotia reported that the city is looking for a consultant to prepare a strategic plan for the proper disposal of acid-bearing rock, along with the specific issueon infilling pre-Confederation waterlots. The study is intended to be completed by next March.
If you're interested in keeping this issue top of mind for our decision makers, please use the following contact information to make your voice heard.
Coucillor Sam Austin, Councillor for Dartmouth Centre
Mayor Mike Savage , Halifax Mayor
The Hounourable Joyce Murray, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard
The Honourable Omar Alghabra, Minister of Transport
MP Darren Fisher, MP Dartmouth-Cole Harbour
Premier Tim Houston, Nova Scotia Premier