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Posted by Richard Bell
January 14, 2020 3:25 PM
Eastern Shore Cooperator
The revelation that the province’s Department of Lands and Forests has been secretly planning to sell Crown land on Owls Head to a wealthy American couple who own Lighthouse Links Development Company to build as many as three golf courses has stunned Nova Scotians.
For more than four decades, members of the public had every reason to assume that Owls Head would eventually become a fully protected provincial park. As late as the week of January 6th, a Department of the Environment online map of protected areas showed the area as “Owls Head Provincial Park” as late as January.
… One of the people challenging the government is Chris Trider, who brings an unusual combination of former golf course superintendent together with 21 years (retired) working as a coastal park planner for the Department of Natural Resources.
In an interview, Trider emphasized the larger implications of the decision: “The really frightening thing is this decision sets a real, real nasty precedent. There’s lots of Crown land on that list that’s been waiting to be formally protected by Order in Council. What we’re seeing in Owls Head is that all of that land, hundreds of parcels, may be subject to secret backroom deals with developers.”
