Property owner says it’s restricting public access to part of Dartmouth Cove

A company is restricting access to a portion of Dartmouth Cove.

A property owner behind a proposed infill project at Dartmouth Cove is restricting access to part of the area, citing issues with the Halifax Regional Municipality, which passed a bylaw limiting infilling along the waterfront late last year.

A “No Trespassing” sign is now up along Dartmouth Cove, warning people that pedestrian and vehicular traffic is prohibited without written permission from the owner, 4197847 Nova Scotia Ltd.

“This action is the result HRM restricting the owner’s access to their property and obstructing a 2006 agreement that allowed the Harbour Walk Trail to cross this private property,” the sign reads.

One Dartmouth Cove, which claims to have put up the sign, says they have the only remaining undeveloped privately-owned shoreline property on Dartmouth Cove. They say the Protection of Property order is now being actively monitored and enforced.

“In December, One Dartmouth Cove requested access to our property in accordance with a long-standing, collaborative agreement with the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM),” a statement from One Dartmouth Cove reads. “This agreement, which has been in place for 20 years, allows the public to enjoy the Waterfront Trail across our private land while ensuring property owners can access their land via HRM property.

“Despite this, HRM denied our request for access. Furthermore, HRM has issued of a Protection of Property Order on our ability to access our property via Skokomul Street.”

Bruce Wood, CFO of Atlantic Road Construction & Paving, said the company has “worked very hard” to keep the trails open.

“It was never our intention,” Wood said. “Every plan we made throughout this process was to ensure the trail remained open and people had access to it. Unfortunately, HRM took the steps that they did that put us in this position.”

Dartmouth Centre Coun. Sam Austin said he received a lawyer letter on Friday telling him he was banned from the property.

“I don’t honestly know what they’re trying to achieve. We are in a legal dispute with them as to whether or not the easement is valid and whether or not HRM’s bylaw is valid. I don’t know what they’re trying to achieve by taking such a spiteful approach to things.

“As far as HRM is concerned, the trail remains open, the easement is still valid. The shoreline on that side would be private property so they’re within their rights to bar people from that, but they can’t bar people from the public trail.”

Eric Chaytor, an area resident who regularly uses the Dartmouth Cove trail, said the sign is disrespectful to the community.

“It’s shameful,” Chaytor said. “Shameful is a nice way of putting what this is.

“It’s a disrespect to Dartmouth as a whole that a company will do whatever it has to do to try to utilize this space for its own financial purposes.”

This is not the first time 4197847 Nova Scotia Ltd. has blocked public access to Dartmouth Cove. In August 2024 they put up concrete barriers along the trail, later removing them following letters from the municipality and Build Nova Scotia.

Work on Dartmouth Cove has been a hot topic for years. According to One Dartmouth Cove’s website, their proposed project would put fill material (quarry rock and pyritic slate) in a 2.7-hectare water lot, creating roughly 4.5 acres of usable land.

Transport Canada initially gave approval to the project in April 2024 before rescinding it two months later. In October 2025 it again reversed course and gave the project amended approval, noting the proposed infill was similar to other sites like the King’s Wharf development and the COVE facilities.

Wood previously told CTV News Atlantic the project still needs a permit from Fisheries and Oceans Canada for the infill work to go forward.

The same month Transport Canada gave the green light to the project, Halifax council voted 12-to-three to pass bylaw changes limiting the development and infill of the nine water lots at Dartmouth Cove. Following a review, the Nova Scotia government approved the changes in November.

With files from CTV News Atlantic’s Jonathan MacInnis

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