A potentially vitriolic fight over extending city water and sewer mains to Purcells Cove has been delayed until fall. Many residents in the area adamantly oppose the extension, because they’ll have to pay for the pipes in front of their houses whether they want them or not, and because they fear that the proposal opens up the entire area to development, which they don’t want.
The proposal is being vetted by the new Community Steering Committee, the first of its kind in HRM: Halifax council formed the committee specifically to deal with this particularly divisive water and sewage issue, and this week it met for just the second time. But even the make-up of the committee is contested by some residents. Catherine McKinnon, who has been fronting opposition to the plan, says that the appointment of Norm Nahas to the committee violates city policy and conflict of interest rules. Nahas, son of Bassam “King of Donair” Nahas, has a family connection to Battery Hill Developments, which owns about 150 acres along the proposed water and sewer route. McKinnon argues that Nahas has a vested interest in seeing the pipes built.
But David Lane, the city’s project manager for the proposal, spent much of the Steering Committee's Tuesday meeting in Spryfield explaining that development of the land simply isn’t possible under existing city zoning regulations—at least until 2031. Most of the 50 residents attending the meeting seemed unconvinced.
Nahas sat silently through the meeting, but the rest of the committee agreed to put off the required public consultation until late September.
