The provincial government selected Sandy Lake as a Special Planning Area in 2022, and soon after gave funds to HRM to contract a consultant to do "background studies" on the area. Background studies included gathering information on environmental features, modeling traffic changes from development, and looking at potential ways of servicing the area with water, sewer, and stormwater systems.
These background studies were completed by Stantec (a consulting company) in spring 2025, at which point the Province then declared that "secondary planning" would proceed for Sandy Lake (i.e., the stage where the background studies are used by HRM staff to plan for potential development in more detail).
The background studies do provide some new information about the area, and new insights into how proposed development could impact people and nature. But the studies also leave a lot out.
The Sandy Lake - Sackville River Regional Park Coalition steering committee has done a deep dive into all 5 background studies for Sandy Lake. Although we found many flaws, and multiple instances where the terms of the Request for Proposals for the work were not met, we have narrowed down our critiques to 8 main points. Please see our Top Issues with Background Studies document (link below) to understand the key issues arising out of the background studies. These are issues that need to be addressed in the "secondary planning" phase, which is going on right now.