Kings County Lowers Energy Target for Municipal Complex

The Kentville Advertiser reported Kings County council lowering its energy targets for its new municipal complex on August 4.

I voted against lowering energy efficiency targets. Here's why.

I believe it was fundamentally the wrong direction for municipal leaders to head towards not only because we were provided with so little information to base the decision on, but also because we were presented with only one option for reducing the already climbing cost to build a new municipal complex.

And no, the design below isn't what Kings County is being presented with... It's the Mosiac Centre, an energy efficient building completed to the "net zero" standard in Alberta last year. It presents an interesting contrast to what's going on in our neighbourhood.

This beautiful 30,000 square foot building was completed for the all inclusive original budget $10.5 million dollars. We are currently at $8 million for a 24,000 square foot building and an unambitious energy efficient target of 10-15% below 2011 National Building Code standard. We'd started at 40% under the Model National Energy Building Code. We haven't even seen a building design yet, but are being told it will take another $2 million to reach an energy efficient target of 25%.

You can read more about the Mosaic building in the Huffington Post.

It is my opinion that ALL municipal councils across Canada need to do their bit to address climate change. Raising not lowering energy efficiency targets is what 2016 decisions call for.

Canada's current goal of limiting increasing temperatures to a 1.5 C rise is ambitious given the lack of action over prior years by our nation. 

Without immediate and ongoing action from ALL Canadian leaders at ALL governement levels success is not possible. We will also need personal buy-in from citizens to make the big changes needed. Sadly, at this same council meeting, a motion to establish a Property Accessed Clean Energy program for the county's ratepayers was defeated in a 7 to 4 vote.

Kings County simply does not have sufficient council members that take climate change seriously. I hope that will be changed after the October 15 election. In addition to the need to address climate change there is great opportunity in developing a green energy economy right here in Kings County.

In the case of needing a new complex we do have options. The rush to build a new complex on expensive land in Coldbrook Village Park is inexplicable and has caused the majority of council to lose sight of all other options. Here are some of the things we didn't get to discuss:

1. Does the Province of NS really need the current building vacated on the original timeline? 
2. Do we absolutely need a building of this size? Many staff work "in the field". Desks are vacant at many points in the day. 
3. Why can't we go back to the public for recommendations on a broader set of questions and build a better more inclusive vision?
4. Otherwise, the public deserves to know what the rush is.

Come out on the night of August 10 and have your say. Maybe its not too late for the public to challenge these dastardly decisions! Stantec will be presenting its new energy reduced plans at 7PM at the current Municipal Complex, 87 Cornwallis Street, Kentville. You can learn more about council's work to date by clicking here.

Hand Mowing Competition at Northville Farm Heritage Centre

There are many very special things about living in rural Nova Scotia. Each day the landscape offers unique beauty. Grains grow, apples ripen, times and agricultural practices change.

For example, in recent years sloping land, once seen as less valuable and challenging to farm, have been repurposed, becoming the vital component of a robust wine industry, particularly here in Kings County.

Several of these beautiful repurposed slopes are located close to the Northville Farm Heritage Centre

Especially on days when the centre is open and is hosting an event, it is well worth the drive and the visit. Everything at the centre happens thanks to a keen group of volunteers determined to ensure that past and present agricultural practices are a valued part of our understanding of rural life.

Yesterday, I dropped in to witness the annual hand mowing competition where about 50 spectators and competitors gathered. 

Each entrant is judged on style, speed, width cut and the height of the stubble left of a 25 foot path of grain. 

Following cutting this wide swatch each had to clear a path around a chair without disturbing the bottles on that chair. A task of percision!

I was moved to see 96-year old Arthur Wheaton ably compete. And, for me, Helene Redden was hands down the mower with the best style. 

Council Recommends No Appeal of Nine District Decision

Council is saying there will not be an appeal of the nine district decision of the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board. But they will meet with representatives of the seven villages of Kings County prior to a final decision on August 2.

Yesterday at Committee of the Whole the UARB ruling was accepted despite the Warden media comments that lead to the headline: "Council mulling over an appeal".

After much posturing about the need to wait to discuss the decision behind closed doors at noon with legal counsel (Kevin Latimer) it was decided to move ahead with a debate. The intent at that point was that the lawyer would attend and answer councillors' questions in open chambers. Meanwhile Chief Administrative Officer Tom MacEwan had communicated with Mr. Latimer by email to relate council's decision to discuss the issue openly.

Subsequently, Mr. Latimer sent an email declining the opportunity to provide his opinions in open chambers. The end result was a 10 to 1 vote to recommend acceptance of the UARB decision, with Councillor Atwater providing the dissenting vote.

It was, in my opinion, unnecessarily complicated to get to this point. The recommendation to accept the UARB decision to have nine districts in the upcoming election goes to the regular council meeting scheduled for 6PM on August 2, for final debate and voting.

It is notable that later in the day the CAO and the Warden got messages from the Chair of the Greenwood Village Commission requesting a meeting with council regarding the UARB decision prior to the final vote on August 2.

The villages had not indicated to council as a whole, any particular interest in the UARB decision prior to yesterday's debate and recommendation.

Funding Announced by Honourable Scott Brison at Halls Harbour

The Honourable Scott Brison, President of the Treasury Board and Member of Parliament for Kings – Hants, was in Halls Harbour this morning to make a very welcome funding announcement. 

A smiling Charles and Sylvia Skerry with Scott Brison

The Harbour's share of the approximately $47 million in harbour improvement projects will pay for replacement of a wharf on the western side of the harbour that docks several boats. The wharf leads from the sluice gate to the board walk. Funding will also be used for a necessary retaining wall between the wharf and the highway. 

The province will also be contributing and the work will be tendered soon. Construction is planned to begin in October 2016 with completion by early summer 2017. Minister Brison noted that the commercial fishery at Hall’s Harbour lands over $1.9 million annually and is home to 12 vessels. Applications for funding is managed by a harbour authority, ably chaired by Charles Skerry. And who is it that said: "behind every great man is an equally great woman?" In Charles' case that woman is Sylvia Skerry. We are very fortunate in Kings-Hants to have a hard-working M-P and the hard-working volunteers of the Halls Harbour Authority. It's an enthusiastic combination of talent. 

Hats off to everyone... And safe fishing to the many crews who brave the highest tides in the world to ensure our fishery remains the great economic engine it is for valley communities.

Halls Harbour photos --- come get a few more of your own

Other than Peggy's Cove are photos of any other place in Nova Scotia used as frequently for cover shots? 

Whether it's showing the low or the high tide photos of Halls Harbour grace Nova Scotia's tourist guides and publications of all other sorts. 

The part of the wharf shown here is to be rebuilt with construction starting at the end of this year's tourist season. 

Volunteers are also completing work to ensure that a small, non-commercial wharf on the approach to the harbour will soon be ready for increased by the community and its many visitors. 

A big thanks is due to those across the county who tirelessly work to ensure our county's amenities are the best they can be! Do you know that the general maintenance in Halls Harbour, from flower boxes to the placement and emptying of garbage cans, is done by volunteers? You all know who you are but I bet visitors from other parts of Canada and the world would never guess that fact.

Without you, and people just like you in many other communities, there would be no grant applications, no "free to the community" labour and skills, and a lot less reason to get out and about in Kings County!

Council's Decision "Insensitive to Communities" Board Rules

Today the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board published its decision on the number of districts that Kings County will have in the upcoming October election. 

It ruled against council's proposal of eight districts in favour of the consultant's recommendation of nine districts. 

If the board's ruling stands Centreville, Meadowview and Aldershot will be included in a new District 2 (the light blue area highlighted in the map below). This new District 2 will also include North Kentville (approximately 1,686 voters) in addition to 2,413 voters from the old District 3. Halls Harbour and District will become part of the district to the west (shown below in green).

The ruling lists many reasons for why council's decision was rejected including that: "The Board saw the eight polling district scenario developed by the CAO as being almost entirely insensitive to communities of interest." 

The full ruling can be accessed here: Kings Decision but here is some of what the ruling contains.

The board commented at length on why it ruled against council's proposal. Interestingly, several sections question the motivation of those voting for the CAO's recommendation and how the recommendation came to be:

"...whether Deputy Warden Hirtle told Mr. MacEwan to prepare a new scenario after the Stantec Report was first presented to Council on November 17th (as Mr. Hirtle, in effect, said he did), or whether he did not (as Mr. MacEwan says) - Mr. MacEwan did immediately begin preparing Alternate 8 within hours after Council (including Mr. Hirtle) first saw the Stantec Report." The report notes that the Alternate 8 district proposal provides the Deputy Warden will a better scenario for his district in the upcoming election. 

"With respect to the matter of polling districts it appears from the minutes, and other evidence before the Board, that Stantec’s recommended nine-polling district scenario was not presented to Council to be debated and voted upon. Instead, Deputy Warden Hirtle and Councillor Atwater simply moved the adoption of Mr. MacEwan’s Alternate 8.That motion was carried by a vote of 6:5, with Warden Diana Brothers, Deputy Warden Brian Hirtle, and Councillors Atwater, Lloyd, Best and Ennis voting in favour. The five councillors voting in opposition were Councillors MacQuarrie, Muttart, Raven, Bishop, and Winsor."

The Board also stated "several concerns with the Alternate 8 scenario assembled by Mr. MacEwan." These included:

• "In response to questioning from the Board, Mr. MacEwan testified that this was his first attempt at developing a municipal boundary scenario. He had no prior experience, whatsoever, in conducting such an exercise. He had left his private legal practice four years earlier to become the Municipality’s CAO, his first venture into municipal administration."
• "Further, Mr. MacEwan stated that he developed the Alternate 8 scenario on his own, without any input from anyone else. By his own admission, he intentionally avoided attending any of the three public consultation meetings held by Stantec. If he had attended those meetings, he would have had some opportunity to learn the views of the public with respect to the various scenarios."
• "Moreover, Mr. MacEwan created his suggested model in the matter of a couple of hours, with the primary emphasis on polling districts having both rural and urban components, and simply moving blocks of electors in one direction or the other to address relative parity of voting power. In his testimony, he added that creating districts with urban and rural parts would help balance the geographic size of the districts."
• "Indeed, while in the Board’s experience the task of drawing municipal boundary scenarios has, typically, proven to be very challenging for both municipal administrators and consultants alike, Mr. MacEwan testified that he was confident he could develop his own scenario, and communicated this fact to Mr. Heseltine, even before he embarked on the work. As a result, upon leaving the Valley Waste meeting in the morning, he 'went back to the office and just rearranged the data sheets'. In his view [stating]...'it’s not difficult to move things around. Because you can only move numbers around that are close to each other. ... It’s not complicated...'"
• "...Having reviewed all of the evidence, the Board finds that Mr. MacEwan’s Alternate 8 scenario seriously offends, in at least two ways, one of the important requirements of s. 368(4) of the MGA, that being to reflect communities of interest in the municipal unit."

Paddling the Jijuktu'kwejk

The launch of a new group in Kings County is under discussion. The group settled on the name Jijiktu'kwejk at its first meeting. The name means "Narrow River" and was the name used by the Mi'Kmaq prior to the colonization of Nova Scotia by Cornwallis. It isn't too hard to pronounce, you can come to the next meeting and find out how. In the meantime, some offer the phonetic "Gee-Gee-Wok-Tuk".

Nick Hill draws our attention to an observation along the way

Pre-colonial, the river and its watershed would have been in a drinkable, fishable and swimmable state. The initial group of about 25 people are focused on restoring the river and its watershed to that condition.

On June 18, four canoes and a kayak traveled from Lovett Road to Meadowview with 7 adults and 5 children. It was a great way to experience that stretch of the Jijiktu'kwejk first hand and to get some sense of the task ahead. It was a wonderful recreational experience in need of more repetition.

It was a leisurely trip with some obstacles along the way. See some photos below. Many thanks to Joe Benjamin at the Meadowview Community Centre for his kind welcome at the end. The washrooms were great :)

We will report our initial impressions at the second meeting of the group set for June 26 at the Annapolis Valley First Nations (1PM). If you have an interest in joining this group please get in touch. Everyone with a love of the natural environment and who could help work toward the restoration of the watershed is very much welcome. 

The quality of the water looked different as we traveled along

We experienced 3 spots were navigation was blocked by logs

The banks differed. Here there were trees, ferns and shade

There was evidence of cattle grazing right to the banks

There was little current, many narrow turns and shallow spots

 We packed up at Meadowview after the 4-hr paddle.