Controversial Halifax waste facility could move ahead after court rules councillors biased
Site plan for facility between Lake Echo and Porters Lake will go to regional council for a final decision
A recent court decision that called a pair of Halifax councillors biased has again opened the door for a controversial construction waste facility to be approved in a residential area between Lake Echo and Porters Lake.
The company behind the proposed construction and demolition (C&D) processing facility, Kiann Management Ltd., asked for a judicial review last fall of a community council's decision to reject its site plan.
Earlier this month, Justice Darlene Jamieson of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court overturned that decision by the municipality's Harbour East Marine Drive community council, citing prejudice by two councillors.
Jamieson said councillors Trish Purdy and David Hendsbee — who were especially vocal about how C&D sites should not be in residential areas — appeared determined to reject the site plan regardless of whether it met municipal criteria.
"Their comments undermined any sense of impartiality," Jamieson said in her Oct. 17 decision.
"The comments strayed so far outside the reasonable realm of proper consideration that one cannot conclude otherwise than that they raise a reasonable apprehension of bias."
Kiann Management has been trying to open a C&D processing facility on six hectares of its large undeveloped property along Highway 7 for nearly a decade.
Neighbours have said they worry their quality of life would suffer with increased truck traffic, loud noise and dust, and environmental impacts on wetlands and watercourses on the property.
During debate on the site plan, Hendsbee argued the property isn't "appropriate" for such a development. "I've been a strong advocate that these should be in industrial park settings," he said.
Purdy echoed those concerns.
"Even if there were not the considerations for wetlands, this is not a good idea," she said. "Once this goes in, once this is approved, there is nothing that's going to protect the residents. No. No. No."
Decision to be made without Purdy, Hendsbee
Jamieson said Kiann's site plan should go to regional council for a decision at a later date, but Purdy and Hendsbee, the area councillor, cannot take part. Both councillors were re-elected in the recent municipal elections.
Purdy said she was "shocked" at the decision because she felt she was only representing the best interests of the community.
Hendsbee said he was "extremely disappointed."
"I think that [Jamieson] may be looking at the compliance of the rules. I got to look at the compatibility of the rules, and there's where we differ," he said.
Mike Thomas lives about 650 metres from the proposed C&D site, and has been fighting the facility alongside other residents since Kiann first applied to rezone the land back in 2015.
In 2020, the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board said Halifax's planning rules allowed the land to be rezoned from its mixed-use designation to allow for a C&D facility. Thomas said that ruling was a blow, but residents continue to fight.
"The only way we can be protected is if this site is perfect, and no sites are perfect. This is a very big industrial processing facility in the middle of two neighbourhoods, and it's going to be terribly disruptive," Thomas said in a recent interview.
"It's hard to imagine that we're still here almost 10 years later, but we haven't gone away."
Kiann has done due diligence, says consultant
Lawrence Bellefontaine, the president of Kiann Management and Capital Demolition, declined an interview request.
But Jennifer Tsang, a planning consultant for the project, told the community council last year that these sites are badly needed during Halifax's development boom. This would be the first C&D recycling facility approved in decades in Halifax, and Tsang said there is currently only one company with two processing facilities in the entire Halifax region.
Tsang said their team properly mapped the wetlands on the site, the site plan details the required buffers around watercourses, and they have done various traffic, engineering and environmental studies.
"I don't want anyone to think that this wasn't done properly or that HRM [Halifax Regional Municipality] doesn't have the rules in place. The rezoning had a series of rules, the site plan approval has a series of rules … the operator will have to get a licence every single year from HRM so there will be monitoring of how things are progressing," Tsang said.
Site would not be considered a dump
The proposed C&D facility would handle processing, recycling and storage of construction materials like concrete, asphalt, brick, drywall, lumber, asphalt shingles and metals — classified as CD-2 — but would not be a dump. Halifax classifies those disposal sites as CD-3, and they come with different rules and regulations.
Hendsbee has called for the province to step in and buy Kiann's land, or offer a land swap that would put the facility in an industrial area, but that hasn't happened.
If Halifax council does approve the facility's site plan, Kiann will then have to apply for a licence from HRM, permit from the province, and other municipal permits.
Hendsbee and Purdy said they will look into how Halifax's current municipal planning and solid waste strategies could be changed to prevent future sites from being placed in residential areas.
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