May 31, 2007 KCC Letter requesting protected status for Sand Dollar Beach
re: Protection for Sand Dollar Beach
Dear Minister Morse:
May we suggest a small area in Lunenburg County (see map) that might better serve the public by being designated a Nova Scotia Protected Beach? On a narrow stretch of land along the southern side of Highway #332 in Rose Bay, a contractor began dumping fill over the bank onto a tidal salt marsh, and this alerted a local resident to call us. Michael Baker, our MLA, was surprised that there was enough land to legally build a house there. Markers have been put in, and although there has been no application for a building permit, it is obvious that the intention of the Ontario owner is to build a causeway over his salt marsh to his new structure. This might cause an attempted development domino effect and destroy the area for the myriad migratory and shore birds(Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs; Willet; Semi Palmated Plover; Least Sandpiper; Semipalmated Sandpiper; Ruddy Turnstone; Solitary Sandpiper; Shortbilled Dowitcher; Blackbellied Plover; Great Blue Heron; Mallard; Black Duck)that congregate in this estuary, and it would certainly mitigate the experience as a recreational area for tourists and locals who enjoy Sand Dollar Beach, an area there of tidal flats, the parking and staging area for which has been made and stewarded in a joint effort by us and the Lunenburg Municipality.
The NS Department of the Environment had the dumping stopped since the contractor did not have a permit to dump on a salt marsh. Peter MacDonald, Tusket DNR, came to the site and gave an evaluation. It is still a mystery that while there is a twenty-metre setback from mean high tide in our district, and there are DOT setbacks from the highway, that a structure and on-site sewage disposal system can be legally placed so close to the shore.
While we still have time Minister Morse, please consider this area, rich in vulnerable flora and fauna, rich in past and future recreational experiences, to be placed into protection by Nova Scotia.
Yours truly, Andrew R. Hilburt (for the KCC Board)