Halifax councillor says cops should be called if harbourfront development work begins

A Halifax councillor is urging the public to call police if construction crews show up next week on a part of the city’s harbourfront known as Dartmouth Cove.

Coun. Sam Austin says a local developer doesn’t have permission to begin infilling work — dumping pyritic slate and quarry rock along the strip of shoreline to create new land.

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Community group Save Dartmouth Cove says its members will be watching the area, home to a public park and shoreline walking trail.

Just before Christmas Mayor Andy Fillmore sent a letter to the province’s municipal affairs minister saying the developer plans to begin work Jan. 5.

Austin says the work likely involves building a service road, but the ultimate plan is to infill Dartmouth Cove with pyritic slate as a base for a future development.

In November the provincial government approved a council bylaw prohibiting the infilling, but the municipal affairs minister has not yet given the final green light to make the bylaw active.