Eisner Cove Wetland

Eisner Wetland was a pristine mature wetland and supporting forest belt in the heart of the Southdale community of Dartmouth. In 2009, the community made it clear that the wetland was important for flood mitigation and as a recreation area and should be protected. At that time, Eisener Cove Wetland was Crown Land owned by the province of NS and under the “care”of INNOVACORP, a crown coorporation. Without community knowledge, the wetland became the Southdale Future Growth Node and was subsequently and quietly sold to A.J. Legrow Holdings. In March 2022, Nova Scotia’s Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister, John Lohr in the Progressive Conservative government of Tim Houston, usurped Municipal authority and allowed the destruction of the wetland and forest belt for the development of 1200 housing units, using the housing crisis as his pretext for by-passing the HRM Regional Council. The Developer (Clayton Developments) received $22M in forgiveable loans from the NS government to build 373 “attainable” units that would be offered at 80% of market value. Freedom of Information requests have uncovered many backroom deals and government officials’ knowledge that this wetland was important and should not have been sold.

Following the destruction of the wetland and clearcutting of the site, which is part of an important watershed in the city, there has been serious flooding (July, 2023) on both the north and south sides of the project following heavy rains. This did not happen previously.