A popular area of parkland in Halifax may soon become an urban wilderness park.
Halifax Regional Council announced on Wednesday it has tentatively agreed to establish the Shaw Wilderness Park after acquiring what was informally known as the Purcell’s Cove Backlands.
The municipality is partnering with the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) to purchase the 154-hectare green space from The Shaw Group for $6.6 mil.
NCC has agreed to fundraise $2.5 mil towards the acquisition and provide conservation easement to protect the land. The municipality will fund the remaining $4.1 mil.
“NCC is very pleased with Regional Council’s decision and we look forward to receiving community feedback on this exciting conservation project,” said Nature Conservancy of Canada’s Nova Scotia program director Craig Smith in a news release.
“The shared vision to create the urban wilderness park, protecting the intact ecosystems that serve as a gateway to the backlands and provide outdoor recreation and opportunities for appreciation of the natural world within the city will provide enduring value for current and future Haligonians.”
READ MORE: Council votes to move ahead with Purcell’s Cove park negotiations
Council voted last September to further negotiations on the sale, however, not all councillors were in agreement.
At the time, then-Councillor Gloria McCluskey was the only holdout on the proposed park.
As Global News reported, the land was currently valued at $1.5 mil, according to the annual public assessment. However, property records show the company bought the land for more than triple that price in 2011, spending $4.7 mil on it.
Since the 2011 purchase, council rejected a bid to develop the lands, but development has been banned on the property since before the 2011 purchase.
“They bought it trying to get permission to develop it, couldn’t, and now they want to download it,” McCluskey said in September 2016.
According to the municipality, Purcell’s Cove Backlands is a breeding spot for more than 40 species of birds. The area once held a rock quarry that provided much of the stone used in Halifax’s historic buildings.
It’s expected operation of the new park will begin within two years.
With a file from Marieke Walsh
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