The search for a new home.

It’s been a long time since I’ve sat down to write. Really write, to all of you about what’s been going on. After the heartbreak of seeing HJC go, I wanted very much to inform you of happy news. A building story, a triumph.
Heaven knows, we all needed a win.
Unfortunately, real life stories aren’t that simple — and sure as hell aren’t that straight forward… at least not the ones I seem to travel and ultimately write.
So here it is, the thing I’ve been keeping to myself, scared to let all of you in on for if I spoke it aloud it may prove to be untrue — the picture of the special piece of land on which I’m beginning to envision HJC’s evolution to take place. It’s small, five acres of hay field and yet my broken heart has unexpectedly taken the leap and fallen in love once again.
And still here I sit, terrified, that it won’t come to be.
Not because of unrealistic expectations or the typical fear of being hurt which accompanies things like falling in love — but rather because in order for this property to work, the PEI Government, an organization which has little love for the girl who embarrassed them in court last year, must sign off on the project.
You see, I’m invested now — emotionally. I can see Tommy Girl, Rowdy, Peaches, Ruby, Freckles and Flash here basking in the late afternoon sun perched on top of their hill. I can imagine in vivid detail letting them out of the trailer to explore their new, albeit more compact home after the year we have endured. I can see myself working and living here — this could easily be our forever home. I see you all coming to visit, silhouettes of people grabbing halters and going out to fetch their old freinds. I can hear the laughter as we share stories, sitting on our new deck watching the sun go down… I can see it, hear it, feel all of it — but wanting it doesn’t necessarily make it happen.
Overlooking the West River a short drive out of Cornwall, on a dead end street hidden away from busy life is an oasis crying out for an HJC revamp and sadly also stuck within something called a Special Planning Area (SPA).
The SPA was originally implemented in 1994 and was meant to limit ribbon development in rural areas pushing people to develop communities like Cornwall first, allowing neighbouring communities to maintain a more rural lifestyle.
For us this means that all of the land we’d ideally like to purchase for the new HJC either falls within the municipality of Cornwall (where there is no farm land for sale) and is not a part of the SPA as they have their own bylaws, or be pushed into the SPA and beyond making HJC less accessible to the people who need us most. The SPA encompasses Meadowbank, Clyde River, Warren Grove and parts of Kingston.
Although we knew the SPA would be an issue when we began to look for land two years ago, we didn’t know just how big an issue — until now.
Our idyllic little five acre parcel needs to be subdivided from the current owners who want to sell to us and with whom we have negotiated a price — however, the provincial government must sign off on the the subdivision of land and ultimately the building permit as well.
This is where it gets interesting…
Apparently, horses and any horse related business according to the SPA “intensify the use of the land” and therefore do not fit within the rural purview. Yes folks, you heard that right, at our first meeting we were told in no uncertain terms that horses do not belong in a hay field and in fact should have no place within the special planning area.
Now there is a piece of me that really wants to go on a rant here — but I’ll restrain myself and focus instead on the present and where we are now.
After much back and forth, government has decided that a public meeting is required to determine whether or not HJC in it’s new form, with it’s new design and six horses — belong in the rural community of Meadowbank. Tonight is our “soft open” if you will, where we will make a quick five minute presentation to town council at their meeting to tell them what we propose and hopefully gain some support in our effort to bring HJC back to life. The public meeting will be announced by government soon and should take place in the second half of September.
So you see friends, there is great cause for hope but no cause for celebration as of yet. We have been working on this particular land agreement since late July after having worked over two and a half years with 5 realtors, sending letters out looking or land, calling families near and far all in search of our new home, this is what we’ve found and at present it is plan A, B and C. We are running out of time to build and need for things to progress quickly.
I want so much to be able to send you all good news.
Chances are we are going to need a little more of your support in the coming weeks before that can happen.
I’ve asked so much of all of you these past two years — and you’ve never disappointed. Hang in with us a little bit longer, share this, talk about HJC introduce people to me who may have concerns and hopefully within the next few weeks we can celebrate all of our efforts together, in our new home.
I hope you can see it too…
Much love,
E.

