Draft minutes for a January 12, 2011 meeting between HRM officials and Genivar, the engineering consulting firm hired by the provincial government to plan the connector, show that HRM opposed the connector because it will undercut the municipality’s development strategy and result in urban sprawl and higher municipal costs. The Regional Municipal Planning Strategy designates Tantallon and Hubbards as economic and development hubs for St. Margaret’s Bay and seeks to preserve the rural nature of the lands in between. The provincial government announced seven months after the meeting, in August 2011, that it will build the connector halfway between Tantallon and Hubbards, where the regional plan says no development should take place.
The minutes, obtained by residents through a freedom of information application, show that HRM officials said the connector "is contrary to the intentions of the Regional Plan regarding growth.” In a section entitled "Summary of HRM’s position,” the document states that the province’s plans “will lead to additional pressure on development (urban sprawl)” and “place additional pressures on the Municipalities resources.”
HRM officials also said that route option 1 “made the most sense because it provides less potential to develop and would possibly be the cheapest.” The provincial government instead chose route option 3B, a route which opens up much more land for development.
