PONDVILLE: Residents don’t want to see years of pushing for improvements to fall short due to the release of a management plan concerning the future of Pondville Beach Provincial Park and are encouraging people to write in with their concerns about the provincial park before the January 31 deadline.
The plan, which was released by the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables on Dec. 31, 2023, following concerns raised by a group of people pushing for repairs at the popular beach, located in Isle Madame.
Spokesperson for the group, Save Pondville Beach Provincial Park, Lisa Boudreau, said they are a group of just under 10 people who are trying to “raise awareness of the concerns we have for the park.”
“I don’t think we’re all naturally people who get together and complain about things,” she said. “We really just have a passion for this particular purpose and all of us have a vested interest to see it happen.”
The group created a Facebook page, and Boudreau advised they compiled a survey of the types of things people wanted to see repaired and maintained.
“And what we wanted to do was send those feelings out to the general public and to see if others also felt the same way, which overwhelmingly we’ve found that they do,” she said. “And then to set up a platform for people to be able to dialogue.”
Out of the top concerns mentioned, Boudreau said fortifying and preserving the beach was high on the list.
“Definitely reinforcing what’s there or changing it to make it more solid. Second would be ATV’s and vehicular traffic on the beach because of the destruction it causes to the dunes and also for the safety who are at the beach,” she said. “I would say the third one, is to allow the beach to regenerate itself and do what needs to be done to ensure that accessibility is strong.”
The province began the planning process for Pondville Beach in the spring 2023, and a public meeting was held in June of 2023 at the Rocky Bay Irish Club on Isle Madame. The meeting was attended by approximately 85 people and discussed information related to park values, activities, visitor use, and ideas for improvement and future development.
After the meeting the group felt they got the attention of the department. Now that the plan is released, they want residents to write in with their concerns to the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables.
“The issue is that we need to continue to keep that momentum going in order to save this park,” Boudreau said. “And we need the promises that this work will actually occur within this fiscal year.”
According to the released management plan, it plans to relocate the parking lot, the change houses and toilets to the west and close off part of the road to the beach.
“A controlled access gate may be placed on the Pondville North Road allowing for safe pedestrian access to the beach.,” the plan stated.
The wharf, which is a primary concern, was not mentioned for any repair in the management plan, Boudreau noted.
“Whether it’s done this year or next year something should be done. Think of the logistics of it, they can’t close off the roadway until they fix the infrastructure on the other side. The wharf needs to be fixed before they can do that. So, the parking lot cannot move until they do that,” she said. “And then they can look at the walkway, the roadway, and the last parts of infrastructure that needs to be completed.”
Ideally, Boudreau mentioned the park should be on par with other provincially maintained parks and chose to focus her letter around three words.
“Accessibility, education, and intergenerational. It should be accessible, it should be educational, and it should be intergenerational,” she said. “Which means anybody can get into that park and there’s something there for them.”
The management plan can be viewed at https://parks.novascotia.ca/ and individuals can submit a written comment via email to parkplanning@novascotia.ca.
A letter can also be sent by regular mail to: Carrie Drake, Senior Planner Parks and Outreach Division, Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources and Renewables, 15 Arlington Place, Suite 7 Truro, NS, B2N 0G9.