P.E.I. government places moratorium on new shoreline buffer zone work - Action News
Home WebMail Monday, November 11, 2024, 01:27 AM | Calgary | -0.5°C | Regions Advertise Login | Our platform is in maintenance mode. Some URLs may not be available. |
PEI

P.E.I. government places moratorium on new shoreline buffer zone work

P.E.I.s environment minister says the province is placing a moratorium that will mean no new development in buffer zones along the Island's fragile shorelines until a policy to protect them can be drafted and brought to the legislature.

People can repair current shore armouring or stairs, but not begin new work

Man in suit at a microphone.
P.E.I. Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Action Steven Myers says a moratorium on new work in buffer zones will be in place until a new shoreline protection policy can be drafted and passed by the provincial legislature. (Rick Gibbs/CBC)

P.E.I.'s environment minister says the province is placing a moratorium that will mean no new development in buffer zones along the Island's fragile shorelines until a policy to protect them can be drafted and brought to the legislature.

Steven Myers made the announcement as the Prince Edward Island's legislature adjourned after its fall sitting, saying it would be done through a ministerial order that would be effective immediately.

"You won't be able to do shoreline protection or anything in the buffer zone that's brand new," he said, referring to the 15 metres immediately adjoining the ocean, a wetland or an inland body of water.

"For people who already have shoreline protection they need to repair post-Fiona, that will not apply to them. For people who already have stairs or floating docks in the buffer zone, it will not apply to them.

"It will just be anything new."

Myerssaid that starting Friday, he would sit down to start working on a policy to protect P.E.I.'s coastlines with experts including people from the UPEI School of Climate Changeand Adaptation.

"That's what it's here for; that's where the expertise lies," he said.

Drone view of a huge rock breakwater being built around a new home on a red-sand shoreline.
A photo from a drone shows how the rock wall at the Point Deroche construction site withstood the impact of post-tropical storm Fiona while the beach around it was washed away. (Shane Hennessey/CBC)
  • Do you have a question about climate change and what is being done about it? Send an email toask@cbc.ca

"I'm going to ask them to give us a policy that allows us to protect Prince Edward Island so it doesn't wash away in the next 100 years, so that it's here for our children and our grandchildren in the future," Myers added.

"There's been too much political involvement, including my own involvement, up until now."

The move follows weeks of questions in the legislation about buffer zone work, especially a high-profile development at Point Derocheon Prince Edward Island's North Shore, east of Blooming Point.

View of a house on top of a hill, with a wooden fence and rock stonewall on a beach.
The previous owner of the Point Deroche property had also armoured the shoreline against erosion. (Coldwater Consulting)

A family from Toronto is building a summer home on the 6.8-hectare property. The work includes a huge rock wall that juts out into the ocean and blocks the way of peoplestrolling along the beach.

Myers said the province received 570 applications in 2021 from people wanting to do or contract work in buffer zones around the Island.

He did not say how many of those applications were approved.

The province has noted in the past few weeks that some companies have blanket approvals to undertake work in buffer zones and don't have to apply for each project.


Our planet is changing. So is our journalism. This story is part of a CBC News initiative entitled "Our Changing Planet" to show and explain the effects of climate change. Keep up with the latest news on ourClimate and Environment page.

With files from Kerry Campbell