🗞 Feds say 'no' to Hartlen Point review

ENVIRONMENT

Ottawa declines Hartlen Point residents’ appeal for renewed environmental impact assessment of DND site

Neighbours and environmentalists hoping that Ottawa would reexamine plans for a 93,000-square-metre military testing facility at the edge of Eastern Passage are left looking for other avenues. Late last week, the federal Impact Assessment Agency of Canada rejected the group’s request to designate the Department of National Defence’s $129-million Hartlen Point project for further review.

The reason?

The project—which will see the DND build a two-storey, 11,500-square-metre warehouse and office building to test its future combat ship fleet’s systems in what critics argue is a vital biodiversity hotspot—is too far underway to stop, the IAAC argues.

This, despite what the project’s opponents say are unanswered concerns about bird habitat loss, traffic chokepoints in the midst of an emergency, added wildfire risk from drying wetlands and the DND project’s growing scope: In two years, it has expanded from a $65-million project to $129 million, and from a 9,000-square-metre facility to an overall project footprint of 92,810 square metres.

 Coast reporter Martin Bauman looks into what comes next at Hartlen Point.

Need to know

🚧 Upper Tantallon residents hoping for an emergency fire exit to be built through Nova Scotia Power lands might have to look elsewhere, but councillor Pam Lovelace tells CBC News there are “plenty of options” being explored.

🏥 Nova Scotia Health is looking for help in locating a 45-year-old, a 26-year-old and a 30-year-old patient who all went missing from a Dartmouth hospital.

🏊🏾 Good news for dippers—the HRM has reopened both Albro Lake Beach and Kearney Lake for swimming. Staffers say both lakes are once again safe after previously testing high for bacteria.

🚨 Halifax police have charged a 19-year-old after a reported stabbing near Brunswick and Carmichael streets on Monday. A 24-year-old man was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

🎨 Don't miss these four fantastic exhibitions at the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 before they leave for good! Find more details about the exhibitions here.*

💃🏽 FODAR marks its 9th season with 5 days of virtuosic and galvanizing dance inside on the MainStage at King’s Theatre, and outside for Market Dances at Market Square.*

🍎 New! Annapolis Cider Company’s Taste the Valley mixer pack featuring Earl Blue, The Classic, and Crisp & Dry. Try it today at the NSLC!*

*Sponsored Listing

SPONSORED BY QUINPOOL ROAD MAINSTREET DISRICT ASSOCIATION

Explore Quinpool Road

If you’re a first-time visitor to Quinpool Road or if you haven’t been in a while, make sure you pick up a copy of the New Quinpool Keepsake available at many businesses along Quinpool Road. Not only is it beautifully illustrated by Bee Stanton, a freelance graphic designer, illustrator, & hand lettering artist based out of Halifax, there is also a complete business directory on the back! It also makes a great colouring sheet if you need a break from work or a fun activity for the kids!

Be sure to visit and explore Quinpool Road, the most cosmopolitan street in Halifax!

On The Coast

SPONSORED BY ROSEMARY PORTER

Happy Pride everyone!

There is something for everything this July at Halifax Pride. Events including softball, hockey, beach volleyball games, dances & parties, comedy & drag shows, family events, and the big parade on July 23! Check here for a complete list.

In other news

⚖️ The judge who led Nova Scotia’s high-profile Desmond fatality inquiry until last week says the provincial government’s decision to replace him as commissioner was based on “misinformation” and a sign of the government’s “ignorance.”

🚴🏼‍♀️ Halifax Harbour Bridges has finished its resurfacing work on the Macdonald Bridge bikeway. The bike lanes have reopened for use.

🪶 Hundreds of First Nations chiefs are gathering in Halifax this week amid a leadership void—and a clash of messaging between the Assembly of First Nations’ interim chief and its ousted leader.

🦅 Ottawa has its eye on three Nova Scotia islands to designate as national wildlife areas—a move one biologist describes as a “very big deal.”

🌌 Forecasters at the University of Alaska Fairbanks say the northern lights could be visible in Halifax this week, thanks to a geomagnetic storm. The storm is expected to be strongest on Thursday—but Halifax’s weather forecast calls for clouds Thursday night.

🔎 Halifax Regional Police and Nova Scotia RCMP say they’ve received reports of a scam involving text messages claiming to be from a family member who lost their phone and got a new number.

SPORTS

Halifax Wanderers topple league-leading Pacific FC in rainy 2-1 victory

There’s a well-worn English football adage that’s used—often to the point of meme-ery—to judge a soccer team or player’s bona fides: If they’re any good, can they still do it on a cold, rainy night in Stoke? Playing at the Wanderers Grounds has begun to take on that feel in recent waterlogged weeks: If there’s one guarantee, it’s the rain. It came in sheets on Tuesday afternoon and lingered into the evening, enough to delay the Halifax Wanderers’ match with league-leading Langford, BC side Pacific FC for an hour as referees and Canadian Premier League officials hemmed and hawed over cancelling it outright.

The match prevailed. So, too, did the Wanderers—who are looking like a team capable of just about anything at the moment.

Over 90 minutes, the Halifax-based soccer club out-chanced the 2021 CPL champions in a 2-1 victory that never seemed in doubt.

Coast reporter Martin Bauman has all the drama from the match.

Sure things

Looking for something to do this week? Check out these Coast picks:

🗓 Shaggy and Jah’Mila at the Halifax Jazz Festival: See Mr. Boombastic himself perform on Halifax’s waterfront, with an opening act from Halifax reggae treasure Jah’Mila. | July 12 | Doors at 7:30pm | $80.04

🗓 B’y and Bi’s: Catch a night of queer standup comedy with sets from Clare Belford (Just For Laughs), Adam Myatt (Best of Halifax) and Maggie Estey (CBC Radio) at The Bus Stop Theatre. | July 13 | 6-9pm | $15

🗓 Swim at the Halifax Common: Take a dip in the HRM’s newly-opened outdoor pool in the Halifax Common (near Cogswell Street and Bell Road). | Every day | Hours vary | Free on first come, first serve basis.

🗓 See a book collection like no other: Watch a screening of Umberto Eco: A Library of the World at Carbon Arc Cinema, and take a tour by film of the Italian author’s collection of 30,000+ books. | July 14 | 7pm | $8-8.75

Find more Halifax events in The Coast listings.

Eat this

🍴 Try a jackfruit sandwich at the just-opened Palm Tree Kitchen + Bar (6220 Quinpool Road), a new Caribbean-owned sandwich and rum bar in the former The Other Bean building.

🍴 Fancy a day trip to St. Margaret’s Bay? Bring your bike and make sure to stop at these three ice cream hotspots, as curated by The Coast’s Summer Guide.

🍴 Speaking of ice cream, Dee Dee’s (5668 Nora Bernard Street) has a fruity twist on Moon Mist right now, and it hits the spot.

Shop this

🛍 Check out The Local’s back patio (2037 Gottingen Street) on Friday, July 14 for North by Night Market: An evening of food, music and artisans’ crafts running from 7-10pm.