Shunpiking Online Vo.3 No.2 What this area really needs By SUZANNE TOWNSEND

Dear Community Council,

THE FOLLOWING are my comments which I am submitting for you to please take into consideration in making your decision on this application.

"DESTINY is an anagram for DENSITY." That could be the slogan on the sign for this development. I pity the people who think these condos will represent any kind of paradise. For one thing, the site is far from any Rte 103 exit, on a road that is already so overcrowded from the influx of folk over the past ten years who commute to work -- first to Halifax or Dartmouth, and now even to just the stores and businesses in the Tantallon area. Anyone who moves here thinking it will be an easy commute due to the twinning of the 103 highway to Exit 5 will be in for a shock as soon as they get onto Rte 3 and are slowed to a crawl. In the summer the traffic stops us all -- and in the winter we take our lives in our hands not only from the ice that forms along the coastline roads but also from slow and inadequate snow removal and road repair services.

From what I hear, the developer won't be around to face this trouble. There ought to be a law about that.

So, once you're here you're pretty much stuck here. But in peace and quiet? Hardly! There will be cars and trucks and trailers and ATVs on one side, motorboats and those water machines and parties and more than a few drunken sailors on the other, all jostling for their own little slot in this tiny space. If anyone here has ever lived right on the water they'll agree that it can be a really really noisy place; sounds travel very well across open water. I can imagine the current homeowners will find it so disturbing as to file lawsuits and/or leave the area. I also wouldn't be surprised if there was a constant turnover of unhappy, disillusioned tenants in these condos should they go ahead as planned. From what I hear, the developer won't be around to face this trouble. There ought to be a law about that.

What about the longer term effect on tourism? Many people have written and spoken about this development being out of character with the community. This statement is so obviously true it is amazing to me that figures have to be researched to prove it. All one need do is drive from Tantallon to Hubbards to see the truth of it. And it is just this character of the community that draws tourists. The subdivisions that have been growing all around us are at least hidden up in the woods, away from the water. Dense housing on the shoreline will severely set back tourism along our so-called Lighthouse Route. We may as well start calling it the Big-House-Condo-And-Marina Route. Tourism is already undergoing a severe loss of dollars and resulting stress on our entire provincial economy. If we allow this type of development to go through, more will follow throughout the province, and we can all just say good-bye to any claims of ecotourism, scenic routes, and the like.

This particular stretch of land is an extremely popular place for local fishermen and women. Nine times out of ten when I drive by here there is someone standing quietly on the shore, casting their lines out, enjoying the peace and quiet. The true value of this property is in its role as greenspace. In the summer, the people who own land at the mouth of the river generously allow others and even their dogs to swim and sunbathe, play on the rocks and dive in the water -- as long as they are not destructive, not overly loud, and clean up after themselves. It is paradise on a postage stamp. That is its beauty, and its strength, and its fragility as well, and that is why I am guessing we are all really here tonight. This ill-planned, ill-placed development will not only speed up the erosion of our community but will set a precedent for the eventual collapse of the primary reason this province gets any tourism dollars at all -- the ability to get away from it all. Where is the guardianship of our environment, and of our communities, and of our province as a whole?

And where is the common sense? Who needs another big marina anyway? We are getting a huge one complete with a public events building just across the Bay at Shining Waters -- which took many, many years to build its clientele and get where it is today. What this area really needs is more along the lines of a summer camp for disadvantaged urban youth, or a campground and park for non-motorized sailors and kayakers.

As the marketing director at the time of my hiring told me, ‘Jacques Whitford is about as green as that mud puddle down in our shipping area parking lot -- yes, that one, with the oil slick.’

The whole game of development seems to be about getting as much money as possible while taking on as little responsibility as possible. Even the consultants these people hire play that game. I used to work for Jacques Whitford and lest there be any confusion about the role of this company, they do what their clients wants them to do -- they just make it fit within the legalities. As the marketing director at the time of my hiring told me, "Jacques Whitford is about as green as that mud puddle down in our shipping area parking lot -- yes, that one, with the oil slick." So please, Council, do not let official legal documents, in which the developer cites the planners who cite the DFO who cite the consultant, cow you into accepting these terms and their lame excuses, when your six senses, and surely your common sense alone, show clearly that this is truly an idiotic and aggressive action against our environment and our community.

I entreat the city planners and the Western Region Community Council to truly take public opinion into consideration. I understand that at the last public hearing there were pne hundred against the development and only two in favour, and that more recently, one hundred and thirty were polled and all but three were against the development. I beg the powers that be to take this public consultant to heart and put teeth, not merely lip service, into their restrictions on this development.

Thank you for listening,
Sincerely,
Suzanne Townsend
331 Hillside Drive
Boutiliers Point, NS B3Z 1W9