Owls Head decision, a hot topic in the court of public opinion, goes before a judge – TheChronicleHerald.ca

Owls Head decision, a hot topic in the court of public opinion, goes before a judge – TheChronicleHerald.ca

A Nova Scotia Supreme Court justice will hear arguments Thursday about the validity of Iain Rankin’s decision to remove a large parcel of Crown land at Owls Head from a park reserve list and enter into sale negotiations with a developer.

“We’re saying that the minister ought to have let the public know and consulted the public before making the decision to remove Owls Head provincial park from the parks and protected areas plan, in other words to remove its status as protected public land,” said lawyer Jamie Simpson, who is representing applicants Bob Bancroft and the Eastern Shore Forest Watch Association in court.

“It’s been represented to the public as a provincial park for over 40 years and it’s been serving that role, doing what it was set up to do, that is protecting a special part of the province and a special habitat for wildlife and certain rare plants and species at risk. 

“It’s certainly not appropriate for the minister to just remove that protection in secret simply because a private developer wants to develop it into a residential resort community and golf courses.”

That is what Rankin, now premier but then in his capacity as minister of lands and forestry, did in March 2019, removing 285 hectares from the protected areas plan and entering into negotiations with Lighthouse Links Development, which plans to build three 18-hole golf courses there, in the Little Harbour area on the Eastern Shore.

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The four properties in question, which according to provincial documents submitted to the court,  include a variety of coastal barrens and wetlands, exceptional bedrock-ridged topography and are home to the piping plover and the barn swallow, two species at risk.

The properties are adjacent to a 138-hectare property already owned by American Beckwith Gilbert, who controls Lighthouse Links.

Lighthouse Links signed a letter of offer with Rankin and lands and forestry to purchase the Owls Head properties in December 2019. The properties, ranging in size from 245 hectares to just less than a hectare, were to be sold for $216,000, according to the province’s documents.

Aside from denying the public its right to be informed of the decision, Simpson said the decision is “unreasonable because basically they relied solely on the bald assertions of the proponent that this was going to be some great economic development for the Eastern Shore.”

Simpson said the government department has stated that it has not actually reviewed the proponent’s proposal and has not assessed it through an economic or ecological lens.

Lighthouse Links could not be reached Thursday but the company said in a December statement that it’s unfortunate that the golf course proposal “continues to be delayed by this lawsuit (judicial review) which deprives Eastern Shore residents of what could be as many as 200 badly needed local jobs, during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Lighthouse addressed the environmental and species at risk concerns in its statement, saying the province has always required that there be a full public review of the proposed project and that the company “is fully committed to a full and thoughtful presentation to the public showing the benefits to the community as well as the careful protection of the environment.”

Lighthouse Links maintains that its focus is “balancing local economic opportunity with environmental protection.”

That’s why hundreds of local residents signed a petition presented to the Nova Scotia legislature requesting to move the project forward, Lighthouse said in its statement.

The issue has divided people who live in and near the site but many of the signs posted in the nearby community support development and potential jobs.

Those who oppose the golf course developments, many of them members of the Save Owls Head facebook group, will gather Thursday morning for a rally in front of the Halifax law courts, where Justice Christa Brothers will hear the judicial review arguments.

“More than 4,300 Nova Scotians have joined the Save Little Harbour/Owls Head facebook group,” group founder Sydnee Lynn McKay, born and raised in Little Harbour, said in a release.

“We’re gaining more members every day, as people across Nova Scotia learn about the park, the process, and the precedent.” McKay said.

Lindsay Lee of the Eastern Shore Forest Watch says Rankin’s 2019 decision sets a dangerous precedent for the province and the approximately 100 other provincial parks with proposed or pending protection, “areas that Nova Scotians reasonably believed to be safe.”

Bev Isaacs of Little Harbour says she’s passionate about conserving the park’s biodiversity, but she also believes in procedural fairness.

“All Nova Scotians deserve transparency, consultation, and evidence-based decision-making from their elected officials,” Isaacs said. “Nova Scotia has become a leader during this pandemic by listening to science. Our government needs to apply that same scientific perspective to become an environmental leader.” 

Simpson said a decision in the court case is probably months down the road.

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Published at Wed, 31 Mar 2021 21:41:53 +0000