Dartmouth MLAs call for Environment Department to ‘step up, take care’ of lakes
“Stare into a Dartmouth lake and the community’s identity, its soul, stares back at you.
‘If you ask anyone in Dartmouth what the most important part of their community is, many of them will mention a lake,’ said Claudia Chender, MLA for Dartmouth South.
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‘What we heard over and over again is just tremendous frustrations from advocates, from community groups, residents who just couldn’t get anyone to really care or address these concerns,’ Chender said.
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Steele said he thinks the province regards lakes as “stormwater dumps and there is nothing they can do about them and they (lakes) are not that important — but they are.”
Chender and Leblanc have been working on the lakes file for several years, accentuating their intrinsic value to the provincial Environment Department in a desperate plea for more protective action.
Leblanc said the two MLAs have met with several different groups and held a large community open house in August 2019 that drew 200 people.
Residents called for something to be done to protect the lakes and the two MLAs met with then Environment Minister Gordon Wilson in the fall of 2019. Then, COVID reared its ugly head, and Wilson later yielded his ministerial role to Keith Irving. Chender and Leblanc continue to write letters to the new minister but it is like they are starting over in their quest.
The MLAs would like to see an urban lake commission or agency, with representation from all three levels of government, advocates, community groups and residents, struck to act as a “central clearinghouse of responsibility and expertise,” to identify specific issues and to administer concerted action across all levels of government to deal with the issues identified.
Chender said a current development construction site at Portland Street and Portland Estates has continually dispatched solid particulate into the storm sewers.
‘This has happened seven or eight times, a conscientious resident will make a call to the Department of Environment, will make a call to HRM,’ Chender said. ‘As far as we understand there was one stop-work order issued, but no fines. … For whatever reason, the enforcement mechanisms in place do not seem equal to the task.’
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Chender doesn’t think the municipality or conscientious residents who call about non-compliant developers or neighbours are ultimately responsible to keep lakes healthy.
‘The reality is that legally municipalities are a creature of the province,’ Chender said. “From my perspective, I would say the Department of Environment and Climate Change has ultimate jurisdiction and if they want to devolve that to the municipality, fine, but they are going to have to fund it properly. They (Environment Department) need to step up and take care of our lakes.’”