'Loud and clear': Porters Lake, N.S., sidewalk backlash may only be the beginning

Halifax's ambitious plan to build sidewalks in 17 rural communities over the next decade might be off to a rocky start.

Regional council approved the list about a year ago, but as CTV News reported Monday night, people in Porters Lake turned out in droves at two public meetings to say they didn't want or need the sidewalks, and they're not prepared to pay higher taxes to pay for them.

"From our perspective, it (the meeting) was a success," David MacIssac HRM Active Transportation Program manager told CTV News at city hall on Tuesday.

"We need to know, we need to hear from folks, and that informs the information we bring to regional council," he said.

Under the proposal, the area rate tax would increase by $33 per $100,000 assessed property-value.

For most, it would likely work out to a little more than $100 year, but in perpetuity.

“It's a rate that would be consistent across communities that are interested," said MacIssac, noting the other four communities that have been identified as rural priorities for sidewalks right now are Musquodoboit Harbour, Upper Tantallon, Hubbards and Lucasville.

Hundreds of people in Porters Lake, N.S., turned out for the first of two public consultation meetings about proposed sidewalks planned for their community and the tax hike suggested to pay for them. (Bruce Frisko/CTV Atlantic)Still, he admitted any tax increase is a tough sell right now.

"Definitely, that's what we heard there last night," he said.

"I think folks are feeling the pinch in lots of different ways in terms of their household budget and I think talking about area rates and tax increases at this time is something that's pretty challenging."

The idea stems from the larger Rural Active Transportation Program.

Public meetings for Upper Tantallon, Hubbards and Lucasville haven't been scheduled yet.

Two sessions have been scheduled at Eastern Shore Community Centre in Musquodoboit Harbour on January 31.

Dozens of people were turned away for the 1:00 p.m. meeting at the Porters Lake Community Centre, prompting organizers to add two additional meetings on February 5.

Dozens of people were turned away at the door of the Porters Lake Community Centre when the building reached maximum capacity. (Bruce Frisko/CTV Atlantic)A 6:00 p.m. meeting was similarly packed, with vehicles parked along the highway.

"The two meetings we had yesterday in Porters Lake were quite robust," said District 2 Councillor David Hendsbee, who attended both.

"I heard it loud and clear that people don't want to go ahead with this project as proposed, with the large catchment area and area rate based on assessments," said Hendsbee.

"HRM staff will have to finish their process. I encouragement to do the online survey, or fill it out on paper and send it in, so we can document those concerns for the staff report."

Still, Hendsbee is not predicting how other areas will react.

"I think you're going to see different reactions depending on the nature of the community," he said.

HRM District 2 Councillor David Hendsbee watches from the back of the room during a sidewalk public consultation meeting in Porters Lake, N.S. (Bruce Frisko/CTV Atlantic)"Musquodoboit Harbour is more of a 'stretched out' community, different services, where Porters Lake is concentrated in one area," said Hendsbee.

"It's been a process the municipality has to go through, the public engagement, to gauge people's opinions and ideas and insight on it," he said, adding public consultation continues until February 15, with a final staff report to council expected in the Spring.

New urban sidewalk service levels were approved by regional council Tuesday afternoon, including 55 kilometres of new sidewalks.

"At the end of the day, it's up to council," said MacIssac.

"A lot of communities in rural HRM have been interested in sidewalks over the years, but the barrier has been this tax policy funding mechanism. So, council gave us direction to at least try this approach that we heard about last night, and we'll go back to council and tell them what we heard. Maybe in some communities, they're supportive, in others, they may not be. We did this in East Preston last Spring and that community was quite supportive," he added.

"So it really depends, and we'll take our direction from council."

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