Stewiacke slows development pending new water treatment plant

A Colchester County, N.S., town has created new rules intended to curb a development boom, citing concerns over its aging water treatment plant.

Stewiacke Mayor Doug Glasser said the capacity of the current system is unknown. He said the plant is at the end of its lifespan and the measures are needed to uphold the water supply for customers. 

"We want our community to continue to grow, but we have to do it responsibly," said Glasser, who was acclaimed as mayor of the town of more than 1,500 people in October. 

Previously, the municipal planning strategy said there was "significant capacity" to support future development.

Water advisory 

However, that has not been the case in recent summers, including this week.

On Thursday, the town issued a water-use advisory recommending residents take shorter showers and avoid watering lawns, among other conservation measures.

The St. Andrews River, the town's water source, is currently low and when it does rain, silt is stirred up in the river, according to Glasser.

"The water that's coming into the system is so murky that we can't treat it fast enough. And the machines that are treating that water, we don't know if they're going to last for another week, a month or a year," the mayor said.

Following a public hearing on June 9, council approved amendments to temporarily slow the speed of residential development. There are also new restrictions for commercial uses that are water-intensive, such as car washes and laundromats.

Under the rules billed as temporary until a new facility is built, development permits for apartment buildings cannot be issued in the serviced area. There are also new limitations in unserviced areas of the town, with only three lots able to be created from an area of land each calendar year.

Joely Killen, owner of Ruby's Way Developments, said she was surprised slowing down development was the only option the town considered. The developer has about 10 lots that have been grandfathered in under the old rules, but the changes have curtailed a second phase of nine lots and a third of up to 50.

"If the town doesn't have growth, then it starts to die and Stewiacke has just in the last few years started to see that development and is ready for more," said Killen, who also owns Winding River Homes and the local Home Hardware store.

"As a developer, I'm gonna move outside of Stewiacke into other areas that we own land and maybe I don't invest my money back in Stewiacke," she added.

Killen said the move by town council feels contrary to priorities of the provincial and federal governments, which have been fast-tracking construction to deal with the national housing crisis.

New facility years away 

Scott Armstrong, the PC MLA for Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley, said he supports the interim measures, which will have to be approved by the minister of municipal affairs.

"One of the issues around growth is you have to have the infrastructure in place, water and sewer being part of that, in order to have new housing, new developments. And we want our communities to continue to grow," he said.

Armstrong said he will voice support for a new water treatment plant once the town makes an application for funding.

The town is applying to the Environment Department for a permit to drill a well, rather than continue to rely on the river.

Glasser hopes the federal and provincial governments will each contribute a third of the project costs. Still, he said it could be three to five years before a new water treatment plant comes online.