Business: Barriers removed from Dartmouth Cove Trail
The company behind a planned fill project in Dartmouth Cove said it removed barriers it had erected along a popular hiking trail on Wednesday.
In a press release, Atlantic Road Construction and Paving Ltd., the company behind the project, said the barriers were removed Friday morning.
The company said the project team and representatives from the Halifax Regional Municipality will be on site next week “to find a way to minimize disruption to the public as construction begins on the private property, which includes a section of the Dartmouth Harbourwalk Trail.”
On Wednesday, users of the hiking trail protested against the blockades. Police were called to the site at least twice.
Build Nova Scotia, a provincial government-owned company, told CBC News on Wednesday that the provincial government had ordered Atlantic Road Construction to remove all fences, concrete blocks and other barriers blocking access to the trail.
The company did not have a permit to erect the barriers, which Build Nova Scotia said were on provincial land. The deadline to remove the barriers was noon Friday.
Bruce Wood, chief financial officer of Atlantic Road Construction, said in a statement Friday that the company was pleased to work with the community to outline its vision and complete permitting “that has been underway for some time.”
The Dartmouth Cove project would require 100,000 cubic metres of rock, such as pyrite slate, to be unloaded from construction sites around Halifax.
In June, Transport Canada began the process of revoking its permit for the Dartmouth Cove fill project. In July, the company suggested that political influence played a role in the decision to revoke the permit.
A company dumping pyrite slate from new construction sites into the waters of Halifax Harbour attempted to block the path at Dartmouth Cove on Wednesday. Police were called to the scene twice as tensions escalated as people protested what was happening. Paul Palmeter has the story.
