The Big Pond RV Park: It's Not Our Jurisdiction

It's not our jurisdiction.

What is the it in the above sentence? 

The beautiful Bras d'Or Lake.

And who said that the Bras d'Or lake is not their jurisdiction.

In this case it is Councillor Earlene MacMullin, but the CBRM planning department told the CBRM Council and its citizens the same thing, countless times. 

You can listen to Councillor MacMullin say so here:  It's not our jurisdiction.

You can listen to CBRM Regional Solicitor Kachafanas say so here: It's not our jurisdiction.

You can listen to the Director Malcolm Gillis say so here: It's not our jurisdiction.

But the Department of Municpal Affairs tells us a different story.  

Our provincial government cleary states that municipalities - yes, including the CBRM - have some jurisdiction over the environment: 

"Integrated Community Sustainability Plans (ICSPs) are plans that have been developed by all of Nova Scotia's fifty-four municipalities. They are a reporting requirement of the Municipal Funding Agreement (MFA) between the province and municipalities. This agreement allows the transfer of Federal Gas Tax funds to municipalities for environmentally sustainable infrastructure projects...

ICSPs are built upon four pillars, which are critical to the long-term well being of communities and people. These are: (1) the natural environment, (2) the social elements of communities, (3) the local and regional economy, and (3) culture and heritage.

You can read more here.

The CBRM created its ICSP ten yers ago. You can read it here. 

It is mind-boggling that this report was not mentioned at all during the entire process of deciding whether to create a spot zone in Big Pond to allow a large-scale development on the shores of  an ecologically sensitive  pond. Not once. 

So, you've got the power, CBRM. 

If you care about our local environment, please call your Councillor and ask about our ICSP. Ask your councillor how it will be used in the futue. Ask why it been 10 years since it was created but it was not refereced in a controversial decision to put a spot zone in Big Pond.

I intend to call some councillors this week. Stay tuned for my findings. 

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Perry MacKinnon Follow Me
And they are all correct...environmental issues are the responsibility of the Dept of Environment...as they should be. CBRM does not have the expertise.
Lorna MacNeil My Post Follow Me
The CBRM Council and the planning department say that they cannot consider the health of the Bras d'Or Lake in their planning decisions, but the truth is they could but chose not to. 4 years ago, CBRM Council adopted a Municpal Climate Change Action Plan that states they will use the plan to put in more land use controls in rural Cape Breton. In 2009, the provincial government published a report on the state of our coasts and advised that the best tool for protecting coastlines are municipal land use decisions, the province wants municipalities to consider the enviroment in planning decisions. The Bras d'Or Lake was rated as "highly sensitive" in that report, the same as protected sand dunes. So, we need to sort this out. The Big Pond RV decision was made as the result of an improper process, and who knows what other development ideas may come up for the shorelines of the Bras d'Or?

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