Barachois, Smarachois? There is a strange thing happening in Big Pond, Cape Breton. Well, right now it is happening in city hall in Sydney, Cape Breton. Let me tell you the story - very simply. Not too long ago, and in a place not far away, a developer from Calgary decided that he would like to build an enormous RV Park with between 500-600 sites in Big Pond Centre. Big Pond is a small village. There would be more people in the RV park than in the community. This seemed strange to most of the local people. But the CBRM defines communities like Big Pond in this way: “The communities are prized for their clean environment and should integrate new development in sustainable ways so as to minimize environmental impacts and protect the privacy rural living has to offer.” And so it seemed that all would be well. After all, building an RV park of such a scale could not possibly protect our privacy. Not to mention the serious environmental risks that would be have to be taken should the project go ahead in its proposed space. But, lo and behold, the CBRM planning department told the CBRM council that it would be reasonable to consider this project for this particular parcel of land. Many local residents were confused about the CBRM planning department’s decision, and now look to the elected CBRM Council to reject the proposal. Here are just three of the strange things in this strange story: The developer, on the Facebook page for marketing this RV proposal, has referred to 1000-feet of sandy beach at the property but in reality there is no sand on the beach, let alone 3.3 football field lengths of it. The shoreline of the property the developer intends to buy actually borders a barachois, or, and here I quote; “coastal lagoons separated from the ocean by a sand or shingle bar.” People do not swim in the barachois as it is filled with eelgrass, oysters, slimy rocks and lots of lakelife. Scientists study the Bras d’Or Lake Barachois as they are important to the overall ecosystem of the lake. It seems that CBRM council is not formally considering, as part of its decison-making process, that the Bras d’Or Lake is a UNESCO bisophere, like only 17 other spaces in Canada, like Riding Mountain in Manitobia or the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick. This has been a strange story thus far. Maybe we can turn it into a story with a happy ending. At 1:30 PM on Tuesday, February 20th, in two days, the CBRM council will open its doors to us, the citizens of Cape Breton, so that we can put forward any concerns we have about this project. Let’s let our councillors know that this project is not right for this property.