I am midst of writing a series of posts about the UARB ruling on the proposed RV park in Big Pond: The Board found that the CBRM was required to provide reasonable protection from the noise and visual impact of the project but that they did not. 

Here are links to my first three posts dealing with how:

• CBRM Planning did not present Council with the actual policy they had to follow, but with an altered version that changed the meaning of the policy

• CBRM Planning did not apply the visual impact test required in policy 17e of their Municipal Policy Strategy in the same way as they had in another case

• CBRM Planning presented facts about campgrounds from far-flung places, but failed to check out whether these campgrounds had to follow a policy governing sound and visual impact like the proposed Big Pond campground does.

And now for “The Big Pond RV Park: If an ATV is in an RV park, does it make a sound?” 

In a profoundly odd move, CBRM Planning did not count the entire proposed development when they decided that its noise would not be unreasonably loud. 

Seriously. 

CBRM Planning did provide a rationale to the UARB board for their decision not to consider the complete proposed development when considering the amount of noise it would generate. 

CBRM considered the amphitheatre for music festivals, and all uses on this list above, as “as of right” or a permitted use and so the noise of a music festival is, according to CBRM planning, allowed anywhere in rural CBRM, and so did not have to counted as part of the noise of the proposed Big Pond RV park. 

But if we look at policy 17e - the policy that CBRM identified as the main one to be applied to the proposed Big Pond RV park, the language clearly states that it is the “business development” that is to be evaluated for adverse impacts to people who live near the chosen site. 

To close this post on a strange note, when a member of the UARB asked CBRM Planning if they knew how much noise one RV site would generate - this is the only noise they considered, after all - they replied that they did not know. 

That is all.