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The developer behind a proposed housing project in Musquodoboit Harbour is selling his land and walking away, calling a provincial fast-track designation his “biggest hindrance.”
John Wesley Chisholm’s planned 120-unit Harbour Garden Village community was named a special planning area in 2023 because the site was set to include a new long-term care home.
While the provincial designation is intended to accelerate development, Chisholm said Friday he is closing a deal to sell his nearly 20 hectares of land without building a single home.
“I ran out of time, I ran out of money,” Chisholm said. “I couldn’t do it anymore.”
Project in the works since 2020
While he declined to identify the buyer, Chisholm said the deal will leave him about $300,000 in the red.
He blamed the collapse of the project on the inclusion of a 48-bed replacement for The Birches, the local long-term care home, within the planning zone. Chisholm began planning the development in 2020 amid pandemic-related uncertainty surrounding his film and television production business.
He initially offered to donate about one hectare along the edge of his property for the care home. But when the home later asked for closer to three hectares in a more central location within the property, Chisholm said he’d need compensation.
Multiple extensions, but no land sale
Though the two sides reached a purchase and sale agreement, the land transfer was never completed. Chisholm said the home requested repeated one-month extensions to finalize its own plans.
After granting 19 extensions, he drew the line last year.
“The thing about my project was I couldn’t really start on the Harbour Garden project until I knew what was going on with The Birches project,” he said.
Suzanne Wamboldt, the executive director of The Birches, recently told CBC that the home is looking for an alternative site. She said the original plan fell through because the developer sought to alter aspects of the agreement.
On Friday, Wamboldt confirmed the extensions occurred but didn’t elaborate.
“It’s kind of water under the bridge at this point,” she said.
Plan was for 120 units
Chisholm, a former Progressive Conservative candidate, said he had no involvement with the care home development beyond the proposed land sale.
He noted that the only infrastructure built on the property was an access road used by crews to conduct testing and survey work for the care home. While he still believes in the concept, he said he won’t be the one to see it through.
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