News Release
Harbour Solutions Project Loses One Site, Negotiating for Another
(Friday, May 25/2001)-- Mayor Peter Kelly said today that Halifax Regional Municipality is seeking legal advice regarding a decision by Via Rail this week to set aside an agreement to purchase with HRM-- and sell a parcel of land in southend to the Halifax Port Authority.
Mayor Peter Kelly expressed disappointment today at a decision by the Halifax Port Authority to purchase a southend site, which is being proposed for use as a sewage treatment plant as part of the $315 million Harbor Solutions Project.
However, the Mayor stressed that Halifax Regional Council is committed to seeing that the massive environmental project will be undertaken " for the benefit of today's residents, as well as for future generations."
Mayor Kelly said HRM had been negotiating with the owners of the property, Via Rail, for more than two years. Approximately a week ago, HRM concluded an agreement to purchase with ViaRail and Regional Council planned to meet this week to approve funding to buy the site.
However, before that discussion could take place, the Mayor was advised by the Port Authority that the proposed siting of the sewage treatment plant "did not fit" into its expansion plans and that it had purchased the site from ViaRail.
The Harbour Solutions Project proposed to locate the second treatment plant on the Halifax side of the harbour on the southend site, which is now occupied by the Via Rail maintenance shed. No other suitable site had been identified.
The Mayor said" It came as a complete surprise to us. I am still at a loss to understand how two publicly-funded agencies can meet behind closed doors and reach a deal at the eleventh hour, when both knew perfectly well that HRM needed the site for the Harbour Solutions Project."
"It's unfortunate that more than 80 per cent of the people who have been surveyed in recent years want us to get started on the Harbour Solutions Project, yet we seem to encountering unforeseen obstacles at every turn, " he said.
The Harbour Solutions Project calls for a four-plant system-- one to be located on municipally-owned land at the corner of Barrington and Cornwallis Streets; a second on the southend Via Rail site; a third on lands now owned by the Canadian Coast Guard on the Dartmouth side of the harbour; and a fourth in the Herring Cove area.
The Mayor said HRM is considering its legal options and, in the meantime, it has asked staff to assess the overall impact the loss of the southend site will have on the Harbour Solutions Project.
In another development, Mayor Kelly said HRM has held negotiations with the Department of National Defence in hopes of acquiring a parcel of land near HMC Dockyard as a possible site for a sewage treatment plant.
If purchased, the land would become the site for the proposed first Halifax-side treatment plant, which current plans call to be constructed on HRM-owned land at the corner of Barrington and Cornwallis Street.
Mayor Kelly said Harbour Solutions project representatives hope to be able to meet soon with the local community to discuss plans for possible use of the DND site. HRM has been consulting with the neighbourhood residents regarding proposed use of the municipally-owned land at Barrington and Cornwallis Streets.
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Mayor Peter Kelly
(902) 490-4010
