PORT MAITLAND, N.S. — The “old outhouses” at Port Maitland Beach were a recent topic of discussion at the Yarmouth municipal council’s committee of the whole meeting.
Councillor Patti Durkee brought the subject up, in connection with Tourism Nova Scotia's strategic plan, Driving Export Revenue.
The report outlines how Tourism Nova Scotia will help lead the industry to achieve the goal of $4 billion in annual tourism revenues by 2024.
“Considering in the Ray Ivany report that we want to increase the number of tourists coming here, the province needs to look at improving some of the facilities at the beaches,” said Durkee.
She says that close to a year ago council had discussed meeting with Lands and Forestry to talk about improvements at Port Maitland Beach.
At present, there are outhouses and several wooden structures for change rooms, she added.
Although the structures are well-maintained, she says the person responsible for taking care of them over the years has commented that it’s time for some improvements and that they are “just old outhouses.”
“To keep them clean is extremely difficult at this point. They’ve been there for a long, long time,” she said.
She added that the caretaker has noted a large increase in the number of people using the beach.
As there’s now a new minister of lands and forestry – Iain Rankin – Durkee suggested it might be a good time to arrange a meeting to see if it might be possible to move forward with some improvements.
Yarmouth Deputy Warden John Cunningham replied to Durkee that Yarmouth and Acadian Shores Tourism Association had been asked to gather information on park services available in southwest Nova Scotia and to compare those to other parks across the province.
“I’d like to review that information before meeting with Lands and Forestry,” he said.
“I agree that the services there are deplorable, but I also believe we should have the information in front of us.”
