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A proposed nine-hole golf course for Monticello, in eastern P.E.I., is getting mixed reviews.
While the proposal has support in the community, the P.E.I. Watershed Alliance has complained to the area’s MLA that the project is negatively impacting the environment.
The alliance says the developer jumped the gun by starting to clear the land for the golf course before getting approval.
“They have definitely graded the land, removed the trees and brought in excavation trucks there,” said the alliance’s executive director, Heather Laiskonis.
She said the project also breached the federal Migratory Birds Act because trees were taken down during the migration period.
“[The act] sadly never gets enforced here on Prince Edward Island.”
But developer Kris Taylor of Sticks and Stones Development Inc. said he is allowed to work on his land, even before the project is approved.
“I feel like I didn’t break any laws, and as a property owner I had the right… to clear some of the land there this summer,” he said.
Kris Taylor of Sticks and Stones Development Inc. is behind the proposed golf course in Monticello. Most recently, Taylor was attempting to build another golf course, Abegweit Links, on the former Confederation Bridge fabrication yard in Borden-Carleton. (Jane Robertson/CBC)
Taylor said he wasn’t excavating on the site, but was burying the trees to sequester carbon, something called tree vaulting.
As for the migratory birds, he said he’s learning as the project goes along.
“It’s an educational process for me, and I’ve used an environmental consultant from the get-go on this project,” Taylor said.
“I felt like I had the right to clear the trees during the time that I was clearing them. And, you know, I’ve been made aware that there is a Migratory Bird Act, and this is maybe contrary to that, but it’s not something I have been charged with or thought was a problem at the time.”
An aerial view of the site of the proposed golf course in Monticello, in eastern P.E.I. (Aaron Adetuyi/CBC)Community support
The project is currently undergoing a provincial environmental assessment.
A public meeting on the project was held in October, and Taylor said many in the community support what he is doing.
“It was very robust meeting. There were a lot of people there and there seemed to be a lot of support,” Taylor said.
Jerry MacDonald was at that meeting, and is in favour of Taylor’s project.
“Most people were for it, probably 90 per cent. There was a couple people against it, and everybody’s allowed their opinion,” MacDonald said.
He thinks the proposed golf course will be a “great thing” for the community.
“This is a very quiet area, and I think it’ll bring a lot more people around, and it never hurts to have more people around. And it’s supposed to give like eight jobs, you know, [we] need all the jobs we can [get].”
A drone view of the Monticello property. (Aaron Adetuyi/CBC)’Do the very bare minimum of following the law’
Laiskonis said she would prefer to see intact forest rather than golf courses.
“But, you know, that’s something that the community wants and the community should have it,” Laiskonis said.
“We’re just asking people do the very bare minimum of following the law.”
Heather Laiskonis is the executive director of the P.E.I. Watershed Alliance. (Aaron Adetuyi/CBC)
Laiskonis said she has shared her concerns in a letter to the MLA for the area, Robin Croucher, and with P.E.I.’s Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action.
In a statement to CBC News, the department said there have been no provincial environmental violations to date.
“An environmental impact assessment (EIA) is underway for this project…. There is no legislated timeline for this process, and it usually requires a minimum of several months depending upon complexity of the proposal and other factors.”
The department will be accepting public comments on the project until Nov. 28.
