Don't expect shoreline development ban to end soon, P.E.I. environment minister says

It will be years before a provincial government moratorium on Prince Edward Island coastal development is lifted, according to an update provided Wednesday in the legislature.

The temporary prohibition was announced in December 2022 after concerns were raised about stone armouring put in place around a vacation home being built in Point Desroche on the Island's North Shore. 

The province is now in the process of developing shoreline protection plans for 17 areas covering every part of the Island's coast.

Environment Minister Gilles Arsenault said the first of those plans won't be ready until the end of 2027. In the meantime, the restrictions will stay in place. 

"We want to make sure we get it right and we're not going to rush into any final decision," Arsenault said. 

"I think it's a reasonable timeline, and people seem to be connecting with my department if anything needs to occur if they are shoreline owners." 

Scenes from the legislature: Exchanges on coastal development restrictions and long-term care beds

3 days ago

Duration 2:00

Provincial officials say it will be years before restrictions on coastal development on P.E.I. will be lifted. And the province's health minister says P.E.I. is moving forward with a plan to expand long-term care beds on the Island. These were among the topics that came up in the P.E.I. Legislative Assembly this week.

Back in 2022, then-environment minister Steven Myers implemented a moratorium on shoreline development until the department comes up with a new policy delineating what landowners can and can't do to protect their properties from coastal erosion.

Since that order, permits related to new development in the coastal buffer zone have been frozen, with some exceptions.

Report acting as roadmap

In late 2023, the UPEI-affiliated Canadian Centre for Climate Change and Adaptation released a report outlining 16 policy recommendations to inform the government's future decisions about coastal development.

The province commissioned the report as a roadmap to show politicians and civil servants how to mitigate damage from future weather events along the lines of the devastating post-tropical storm Fiona back in 2022. 

The government was also dealing with heated questions about buffer zones and shoreline access tied to the controversial Point Deroche project. The site sparked public outrage because the massive stone armouring installed to protect the property from erosion blocks access to the public beach.

Arsenault said Friday that the first protection plans will be aimed at Lennox Island and the area stretching from Charlottetown around the southeast corner of P.E.I. up to the Boughton River.

Islanders need to be able to protect their properties... and this government has only been an impediment to doing that.— Liberal MLA Robert Henderson

Some politicians, including some within the governing Progressive Conservative ranks, have been critical about the length of time the restrictions have been in place. 

In the legislature Wednesday, Liberal MLA Robert Henderson said the two and a half years that lie ahead until the first of the pilot projects is announced in 2027 constitutes an "extreme amount of time." 

He added: "I thought for sure the minister would be making an announcement [today] that the moratorium would be lifted and allow Islanders to start to be able to protect our land. 

"Islanders need to be able to protect their properties, protect their investment, and this government has only been an impediment to doing that." 

But others, like Green MLA Peter Bevan-Baker, called the plan "absolutely critical" for protecting P.E.I.'s coastlines, no matter what the timeline looks like. 

In the meantime, the province will allow development permits in some exceptional cases, including repairs to existing critical infrastructure.

Arsenault urged any Islanders with shoreline properties to contact his department if they need to request an exemption in a case like that.