PORT HOOD: The gallery was full for Inverness Municipal Council’s October 3 regular meeting that saw the municipal body pass the second reading of a purposed amendment allowing Cabot Links to build cabins at the northwest end of Beach Road.
The rezoning would see the land changed from a Waterfront Development zone to a Commercial Tourism zone. The reading passed, with all four council members voting in favour.
The gallery members weren’t pleased.
“This is the fourth phase of the process when an amendment is called for,” said deputy warden Betty Ann MacQuarrie. “We went through the first reading, which was approved so that we go to the people of Inverness. A public hearing was held on August 29, and at that point we sat and listened to your concerns. Many were justifiable, and many were accusatory. Our council sits certainly not unnerved from that part of the process.
“However, our council is pro-development,” she said. “We’re not pro-any particular developer, but pro-development. We want to see our municipality grow, and we want to see our tax base grow.”
After speaking, MacQuarrie moved that the second reading of the purposed amendment be approved. The motion didn’t get too far, however, as the filled-to-capacity gallery shouted a chores of “no.”
After more protests from the public, Warden MacAulay adjourned council. Approximately 20 minutes later, council resumed with the warden reading a section of the Municipal Government Act indicating that he had the power to clear the gallery if the interruptions continued.
“There are people on the way, and if I hear anything not-constructive, I’m going to ask the people to leave council chambers,” he said. “If they don’t leave, there will be people here to remove them.”
The motion passed, and the next item on the agenda was a presentation by Bernadette MacLeod relating to another interaction council is having with Cabot Links. Council was planning to consider expropriating a piece of Cabot land to accommodate a northern access to Inverness beach.
MacLeod is a retired lawyer, and the sibling of Annette MacLeod who is one of the owners of the Inverness Beach Village and MacLeod’s Beach Campsite. She was speaking against the expropriation.
She said the MacLeods no longer own the land in question – they gave the 14 acres to Cabot Links sometime ago – but they still have legal property rights on the land due to restrictive covenants prohibiting any non- golf related activity. She said the covenants were set out in a 2007 agreement between Cabot and the Inverness Beach Village.
Also relevant, MacLeod said, were two agreements Cabot Links had made to provide access to Inverness Beach. One was made in 2005 with the Inverness Development Association and the other came about in 2013 with the Department of Natural Resources.
“Serious questions are raised by this proposed expropriation,” she said. “Why would the municipality engage in a transaction where the taxpayers of Inverness County would be required to pay Cabot fair market value of the expropriated lands, plus compensation to the MacLeods for the reduction in the market value of their IBV land? Additionally, the taxpayers of Inverness County would be required to pay for the cost of creating and maintaining public access to the Inverness Beach.”
MacLeod said communication with the Nova Scotia Office of the Ombudsman has taken place.
“It is expected that an investigation of the circumstances surrounding this proposed expropriation will be conducted soon as well as an investigation of the likelihood of conflicts-of-interest,” she said.
Council agreed to table the expropriation motion.