Halifax residents raise traffic, environmental concerns with Sandy Lake development

Halifax residents brought traffic and environmental concerns to an open house on major development planned for the Sandy Lake area in Bedford, and questioned why no provincial decision-makers were there to hear feedback.

The public spoke with Halifax municipal planners and representatives for developers in the Sandy Lake special planning area at the open house at a Bedford church Wednesday. 

Sandy Lake is one of 16 spots around the city where the province has taken over development approval from Halifax council in a bid to fast-track housing construction.

“The province just came in and said, ‘no, we're doing it.’ And they're not even here for us to talk to,” said resident Heather Crosby. 

Early modelling shows the 400-hectare area could support about 8,000 housing units, according to the municipality.

Most of these would be in a new 6,400-unit neighbourhood proposed by Clayton Developments that would include a range of ground-level homes and multi-unit highrise buildings.

People brought up traffic concerns for the over-capacity Hammonds Plains Road, and environmental impacts on the site’s wetlands and streams and the nearby lake.

David Patriquin, a retired Dalhousie University biology professor, said developing around the northern edge of the lake where watercourses feed into Sandy Lake is dangerous. 

“If you surveyed the lake and tried to find the worst place to put the development, that's where they put it,” Patriquin said.

Patriquin said it is nearly impossible to control all run-off from such major development, and studies show the oxygen levels in the water are already concerningly low. This has made the lake “hypersensitive,” he said.

Karen McKendry, senior wilderness co-ordinator with the Ecology Action Centre in Halifax, said the group is calling on the province to remove Sandy Lake from the list of special planning areas.

McKendry said she asked to display some maps and graphics showing watercourses and wetland features of the Sandy Lake site, which were included in municipal staff reports, but she was told she couldn't.

Instead, McKendry and other Ecology Action Centre members rented another room in the church hall to display the maps and present their concerns with the current plans.

McKendry said studies estimate Halifax will have to pay about $131 million in various infrastructure costs to support the Sandy Lake development, with another $83 million in shared costs with developers.