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Fifteen minutes from downtown Halifax sits over two thousand hectares of gorgeous green space. But some nearby residents say upgrades to the park are destroying the area’s natural beauty.
“It’s absolutely ruining the park, at least that portion of the park,” says Lesley Hartman.
Developers Polycorp and Atlantic Developments are in the midst of sprucing up Long Lake Provincial Park, which is near their Long Lake Village development.
Peter Polley, founder and president of Polycorp, says the developers are investing over $600,000 into park upgrades. That will include building “proper access” off Northwest Arm Drive, expanded paths and a five kilometre walking trail system extending from Old Sambro Road to loop around Witherod Lake.
Upgrades to the park have been planned since 2008, when the Long Lake Provincial Park Association asked the department of Natural Resources to develop a park management plan. But it wasn’t until last fall when Polycorp and Atlantic Development stepped in.
“We thought, what a shame that there is this park that isn’t accessible to everyone,” says Polley.
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But Hartman believes some of the upgrades, specifically the path expansions, are unnecessary.
“I think it’s excessive,” Hartman says. “Even if you wanted a bike path, even if you wanted to make it more accessible, I do not see why you need an eight-foot-wide road.”
The “eight-foot-wide road” Hartman is referring to are actually two eight and 14-foot-wide gravel paths winding around and throughout the park.
“Over the course of the last six months I started to see them widening trails and then in the last week it was to the point where it was shocking,” she says. “I got to the entrance of the park and essentially I was at a road.”
Wynne Jordan, another nearby resident, also considers the new trails to be too wide.
“Initially, I was disappointed to hear about the new trails, but I kind of resigned myself to it as I knew that Halifax’s best-kept secret couldn’t last forever,” Jordan says. “But now that I see how wide the roads are that are going in, I am heartsick. You can’t call those trails, they’re roads.”
Once the upgrades are complete, Polley says the entrance of the expanded trails will be blocked with large boulders—prohibiting vehicle access—while the turn around points currently used for trucks to get in and out of the park will be converted into resting spots with benches donated by the developers.
The removal of the park’s trees to make way for the trails is another matter. Hartman says the site of the tree removal was shocking, particularly since this isn’t the first time the trees around Long Lake have been cut down.
In late November last year an estimated 16 to 20 hectares of trees were removed alongside Old Sambro Road by an unknown party and isn’t connected to the approved upgrades by Atlantic Developments and Polycorp. An investigation by the department of Environment looking into the clearcutting is now complete, but the province would provide no other details about the case other than that Crown attorneys are determining whether charges will be laid.
Polley says there are no future plans of development by Polycorp or Atlantic Developments after the park’s grand opening on Earth Day, April 22. The up-keeping of the park will then be turned over to volunteers of the Long Lake Provincial Park Association. The LLPPA (who were unable to be reached for comment) have the ability to propose possible future trail connections to the province.
This article appears in Mar 31 – Apr 6, 2016.
jesus people really will complain about anything
Extra wide trails ruin everything! It will cause the second-coming. The Earth will be swallowed up by the heavens and Man will suffer eternal damnation, brimstone and Hell-fire! Kiss your loved ones now and hold them tight! The end of the Earth is upon us!
Ans so will Woman.
Did I get that right?
Watching the trucks going every day from the development going in across the street to the new walking trails – Polycorp needed somewhere to dump the dirt that they are accumulating constantly when they are blasting out rocks to build new houses, so it’s no surprise that the trails have gone from 8 feet wide to 14 feet wide – it’s been an easy and free way to get rid of their construction debris
Apparently most of the commenters would never go for a walk in the woods, but would be happy to disparage someone who does it 6+ times a week and is therefore losing something that they never appreciated anyways. They should go and have a look themselves; get out of that basement and try some fresh air!
nope don’t see why it’s such a big deal. because it ISN’T a big deal! Homelessness a big deal, hunger a big deal, the wealth gap a big deal A FEW EXTRA FEET in width of a WALKING TRAIL and cutting down a few trees is not a big deal in anyway whatsoever ever!!
“Grand opening on eart day” …haha
I don’t expect everyone to value wilderness. Long Lake is important for songbirds, owls, deer, coyotes, bear. The so-called trails are wide enough for off-road vehicles, and wider than any trails I’ve ever seen in any park of its kind. It will be a struggle to keep vehicles out of there. The sound of the highway now overwhelms you in the park because of how many trees have come down. Nobody mourns the loss of trees until we start having breathing problems.
Having recently moved to NS from out west, I have noticed 2 trends. 1 ) no one here seriously wants anything thing to change. Sure they will complain and whine about stuff, but when push comes to shove, they just prefer things the way they have always been, and anyone who has an idea is immediately ignored if the “come from away”. 2) when things do change, the complaints get louder as, “thats not the way we have always done things”. This province is so stuck in the past it’s shocking. There is so much potential and beauty here.. do something with it.
“Wilderness”, ha ha good one.
Anyway, WTF is The Coast doing taking an interest in what happens outside of the peninsula or the cool part of Dartmouth?
I live in this area and access the park very often. I am concerned and resigned about the changes and try to view them with hope and optimism as there is little choice or effect by digging in and resisting. I do believe that there are benefits and I do believe that there are many drawbacks. I am sad about the motivations behind the park expansion–it was the developers behind this, not the city. It will help them sell building lots and use their excess fill. I’m critical of how we require capitalist motivations to see progress. I hope that these trails in their excess width will grow back in and block some of the loud highway noise that wasn’t there before. I hope the increased light will drive out the illegal campers and threatening vagrants that drop garbage, cans, bottles, bags of clothing, and even rusted out cars and spray paint stupid graffiti on the rocks where we swam after work and sought solace. I hope it will reduce the illegal campsites. I hope more people will enjoy our little secret haven without allowing their dog shit to sit and become run off that increases fecal coliform bacteria in the lake. I hope each person will use it responsibly and help tidy as we go. I hope the mountain bikers who have been maintaining trails out back of Witherod Lake will still have room to bike. I hope there are many trash cans and some sort of collection schedule. I hope that ATVs in the park will be prosecuted and blocked from access–they have been sticking to the Old Sambro Road to Prospect section of the park up until now anyway. There is such little faith in the positive because we haven’t been shown much in the way of goodwill in this area. But, if all of these things happen well — including us taking personal responsibility for the increase in traffic and garbage to our beloved space, I think it could be good that other people get to share in the beauty that has been enjoyed by many of us for years.
We’ve got interns for a few weeks, Cranky. 😉
Ha ha, ok, I’ll simmer down. Hope they have an enriching experience.
I’ve explored Long Lake Provincial in its entirety more then a few times. The section this new trail system is being built on isn’t really that wild. Its choked by the tip of the lake along Old Sambro Road at its eastern end and ties into the existing trail system (which isn’t much) farther west around Witherod Lake. This section of the park is very small compared to the southern portion which remains undeveloped and virtually untouched except Old Scar Rd and the Old Bay Rd. I know from my personal experience if I wanted to actually explore the forest there it was never along Northwest Arm Dr where you can constantly hear traffic and see buildings over the trees. With all the negative talk about the park being ruined what’s the problem with making a very small portion accessible to people for once? I haven’t seen the new trails in person but I’d imagine they’re similar to the ones at Point Pleasant and now that Long Lake is a lot more accessible the trail width may make a bit more sense. If you’re that into the forest and undisturbed nature take a walk on the other side of the lake.
dfds
Classic coast