No timeline for removal of P.E.I.'s shoreline development restrictions, says environment minister

Restrictions aroundbuilding on Prince EdwardIsland's shorelines havebeen in place for almost two years, and a Progressive ConservativeMLA wants to know when thatwillchange.

The province signed an orderprohibitingnew development in certain areas on the Island, includingbuffer zones, until aformal policy could be put in place. Thoserestrictions have been in place since December 2022.

"I'm really pushing toward this. This can't continue to drag on. There's got to be a solution," backbench PC MLA Matthew MacKay said in the legislature Thursday.

MacKay said some residents in his district, Kensington-Malpeque, are waiting to build and have beenat a standstill.

"They're frustrated that it's dragging on so long because after every year they're seeing their bank diminish or their property line diminishing."

Since the order in 2022, permits related to new development in the coastal buffer zone were stopped.

Some development is still allowed with a permit, including:

• Critical infrastructure repair and protection.
• Repair to existing erosion control structures damaged by post-tropical storm Fiona.
• Provincial or federal erosion control structures required for the protection of public infrastructure.
• Projects that receive a provincial environmental impact assessment approval.

The province is working with UPEI'sSchool of Climate Change and Adaptation to develop anew coastal zone policy.

In late 2023, the centre released a report outlining 16 recommendations to inform the government's future decisions about coastal development.

In response to MacKay's question, Environment Minister Gilles Arsenault said Thursday his department is working on those recommendations, but he stopped short of offering a timeline for when anew policy wouldbe complete.

"We're working on prioritizing nine of the recommendations. Our staff have been very engaged in this process and we're going tocontinue to do that," Arsenault said.

"This is a very complicated file. It's not an easy task to move this forward."