Lawsuit raises red flag over Eisner Cove development siltation

In 2022, the provincial government designated Eisner Cove as the Southdale-Mount Hope Special Planning Area, marking the woods and wetland for future development.

Earlier this year, in May, the provincial government gave a development agreement to A.J. Legrow Holdings Ltd. for approximately 1,000 residential units on the wetland near Fenwick Street, the Woodside Industrial Area, and Dartmouth South Academy. Low-rise homes were planned close to the school, with tall-mid-rise buildings closer to the industrial area.

However, work in the wetland may soon be paused. On July 31, Bill Zebedee, head of Protect Eisner Cove, filed a private prosecution case against Mount Hope Developments Limited Partnership, which has an Approval for Construction. The case focuses on the siltation to the wetland area (caused by loose sediment from the clear-cut wetland entering the water bodies). Mount Hope Developments Limited Partnership has installed erosion- and sediment-control barriers. However, through a Freedom of Information request, Zebedee was able to access the case notes from a Department of Environment and Climate Change (ECC) investigation, which stated that the water was “inundated” with siltation. “We want all work to stop,” Zebedee said, “until they can prove 100% that their barriers work.”

Prior to the private prosecution case, Protect Eisner Cove Wetland filed nine complaints about water quality damage in wetland area. No fines or charges against the developers were laid as a result of these complaints, and Protect Eisner Cove Wetland stated that the ECC “have not upheld their dues of enforcing the Environment Act.”

Zebedee hopes that the remaining wetland near Fenwick Street may be saved, though he believes that “we’ve lost the fight.” Nevertheless, his work, and the work of Protect Eisner Cove Wetland, is not without cause: ‘There are 13 other locations in HRM that are currently considered special planning areas. We want our fight, everything we’ve done for the last four years, to help end the fight for other areas.”

In November, a provincial court judge will decide whether the case will proceed to court.

Further developments in that part of Eisner Cove have yet to be announced — though any new projects seem likely to raise long-standing questions about social services and affordability in this rapidly growing area.

Dartmouth South Academy, which covers the Eisner Cove area, is currently close to maximum student capacity. The provincial government stated that it has plans for three new schools in Dartmouth; however, it has not unveiled where these new schools will be located, or when they will be built.

At present, 32 townhouses have been completed — and are inhabited — near Highway 111. The provincial Department of Growth and Development states that rents are “25% below the CMHC average market rent for the area,” and that the department is collaborating with the YWCA to ensure that “a portion” of the Mount Hope units remain affordable.