Harbour Trail Blockade

Yesterday was an unprecedented day in Dartmouth Centre. Atlantic Road Construction and Paving, the company that is seeking to infill their water lot in Dartmouth Cove, attempted to block the Harbour Trail with first a metal fence, and then with concrete blocks. It didn’t really work due to the quick action of angry Dartmouthians who interfered with both of the company’s attempt to blockade public land and make no mistake, there is no ambiguity here, it is public land where the blocks have been placed.

What the company owns In Dartmouth Cove is a large waterlot. All of their property is on the Harbour side of the tracks and HRM has an easement on their property for a sewer line and public trail. They bought the property with that easement already in place. They own nothing on the land side of the tracks where they attempted to block the trail. They don’t even have an easement to get to their water lot! That didn’t stop Atlantic Road from attempting to block the trail by installing unauthorized baricades on HRM and Build Nova Scotia’s property.

The day started with Atlantic Road attempting to put up metal fences, which were quickly taken down by people in the area. Police were called and since police weren’t willing to enable Atlantic Road in putting up fences, Atlantic Road withdrew telling the officer in charge that they wouldn’t be back today. That didn’t last though. I was down at Dartmouth Cove giving an interview to CBC about the morning’s events when David Jones and I noticed that there was a big white truck down at the Maitland Street end. Atlantic Road was back, this time with concrete blocks to barricade the trail.

A crowd quickly gathered, but Atlantic Road was able to blockade the Maitland Street end of the Harbour Trail. The Maitland Street blocks are on Build NS property and Build NS hadn’t given Atlantic Road permission to put them there. Atlantic Road then tried to install four blocks on the Old Ferry Road entrance on HRM property. They managed to get one of the blocks off their truck and into the air before citizens again interfered. After a tense moment where a block was lowered to the ground just feet away from citizens, the police shutdown any further work as it was clearly very unsafe. I was provided a video of that moment and all I can say is I’m glad no one was hurt!

That a confrontation with the public would result from trying to block the Harbour Trail was entirely predictable and Atlantic Road’s actions needlessly escalated the situation and put members of the public, their own employees and police at risk, both in attempt number one to fence the trail, and especially in attempt number two where heavy weights, and a boom truck were involved. I understand that complaints have been made to the Department of Labour, which manages safety for construction companies, and I trust they will investigate.

With Atlantic Road withdrawing for the day, Build NS arrived on site and opened the crossing gate at Maitland Street to allow people to go around the barricade and continue using the trail, although getting through for anyone with mobility challenges or pushing a stroller is now much more difficult. Yesterday evening, a citizen used his truck to shift the single block on the Old Ferry Road side a few feet so that it’s no longer in the trail’s immediate entrance. Atlantic Road’s attempt to unilaterally close the trail by blockading public land they don’t own didn’t turnout as they had planned.

That Atlantic Road attempted to block the trail wasn’t a surprise. A few weeks ago when Council was considering whether to initiate the planning process for a potential bylaw that would limit infill in all water lots in Dartmouth Cove, the company’s lawyer wrote to Council threatening to block the trail if Council voted to proceed. This is what they sent us:

In that regard, this email serves as notice that if Halifax Regional Council proceeds today with and votes in favour of this particular proposal – prematurely and without any consultation with 4197847 Nova Scotia Limited – then beginning tomorrow morning the Dartmouth Cove walking trail in the vicinity of my client’s subject property will be indefinitely shut down in order to facilitate my client’s necessary investigations concerning the construction of roadways for access to / egress from the subject property and concerning alternative future uses of the property in general. My client will also revert to HRM further in the future regarding necessary additional closures of additional portions of the Dartmouth Cove walking trail for its roadway construction investigations and work.

Council didn’t cave into the bully tactics and voted to initiate the process for potential bylaw amendments 12-2.

Given Atlantic Road’s letter, it’s hard not to feel like this is a clearcut case of the company attempting to punish HRM and the public for initiating a planning process that could result in a bylaw restricting infill on water lots in Dartmouth Cove. The company said in All Nova Scotia yesterday that this wasn’t the case, but they also wouldn’t tell All Nova Scotia what work they were actually trying to do.

Since both HRM and Build NS had concrete blocks dropped on our property, staff spent a big chunk of yesterday afternoon working out a joint response to this brazen blockade attempt. We wanted a united front. Late yesterday, Build NS issued a letter to Atlantic Road demanding that they remove the concrete blocks at the Maitland Street end of the trail by noon on Friday or Build NS would remove them and seek costs from the company. First thing this morning, HRM has done the same, issuing a letter demanding that Atlantic Road remove the single block sitting next to Old Ferry Road on the same timetable, by noon Friday, or we’ll do it ourselves. We will see what today/tomorrow brings. Below is HRM’s letter: