Province rejects Halifax regional plan, says wetland setbacks 'impede' housing

CBC

a day ago

The province has rejected Halifax's new plan guiding growth in the region, saying certain environmental rules will stall development.
But advocates and the city's deputy mayor say those rules are important to maintain a healthy municipality.
On Friday, Municipal Affairs Minister John Lohr said in a letter to Halifax Mayor Andy Fillmore that he could not approve the new regional plan that council passed in June.
The new plan would change a slew of bylaws and land-use planning documents across Halifax Regional Municipality, updating the current regional plan from 2014 that was last amended in May.
Lohr said while some proposals would help the housing situation in Halifax, "they didn't go far enough."
"Beyond that, the document included many proposals that appear intentionally designed to impede housing," Lohr said.
The minister said he was specifically concerned about new requirements for outlets that can accommodate electric-vehicle chargers in new homes or apartments, and increasing setbacks around watercourses and wetlands to 30 metres from 20.
"If developers can't figure out how to do a development that's not 30 metres away from a lake or wetland, well then we don't want those developments," Deputy Mayor Tony Mancini said Monday.
"The lakes are such a precious place. Why would we threaten that?"
In a release Monday, the municipality said HRM staff have been working with provincial staff for the past several months to address concerns about the regional plan.
Lohr's decision to "not approve any of the proposed amendments was not expected, given the ongoing collaboration with provincial counterparts leading up to and following the submission for approval," the release said.
Lohr's letter also said the plan made "minimal" zoning changes to allow more as-of-right housing, where structures that fit regulations can go up without development agreements. The minister did not specify where he would have liked to see more housing allowed.
Mancini said he has always been in favour of development, and the huge number of cranes around the city shows that construction is not slowing down.
Halifax has already made major zoning changes in the past few years to increase density in the urban core, allowing thousands of new as-of-right units, like through the Centre Plan and federal Housing Accelerator Fund.
"Saying there's not enough is not an answer. We need to know, you know, what specifically are you looking for that's not there?" Mancini said.
He also said a compromise could likely be reached on the electric-vehicle issue, such as keeping the outlet requirement for multi-unit buildings but not for single-family homes.
CBC News asked to speak with Fillmore on Monday, but the mayor's office sent a statement instead.
Fillmore said in the statement that he has heard "serious concerns" from the homebuilding industry that the new regional plan added "significant cost and regulatory burden" to development.
"In this context, it is not entirely surprising that the plan was rejected, given the province's focus on building homes," Fillmore said.
In his letter, Lohr said his department and the Department of Growth and Development will work with Halifax staff to review the policies and "develop a new, more practical, citizen-focused" regional plan, as well as the upcoming plan to guide suburban growth.
Jillian Ramsay, sustainable cities co-ordinator with the Ecology Action Centre, said increasing the watercourse setback was a "huge win" that was called for by multiple community groups.
She said Lohr's letter shows the PC government is committed to putting "developer interests over community needs."
"We're really disappointed to see the province is backtracking, especially in the face of all of the fires that we're having in the province right now, where wetlands act as fire breaks and need to be protected for the safety of our communities and for future developments as well," Ramsay said.
She said the regional plan already had a clause enabling people who wanted to build within the watercourse buffer zone to go through a development agreement option.
"It was almost barely a protection in its own right and it's still being walked back," Ramsay said.
This is the latest move from the province to intervene on municipal issues in Halifax.
Recent examples include Premier Tim Houston's direction for council to reverse its decision on a bike lane design, and consideration of strong mayor powers.
"This is a new environment for us where we have the province stepping in. You know, some say it's an overreach — they do have the authority to do that. Should they do it? There's another issue, but we've got to figure out how to make this work," Mancini said.
The PC government also required Halifax to put minimum planning rules in the regional plan itself, like allowing residential uses in most zones and removing bedroom-unit requirements.
It has also created 16 special planning areas around Halifax where the province controls new development, not the city. More than 57,200 new housing units are being built through those areas alone.
Council is expected to discuss Lohr's rejection of the regional plan at its next meeting on Aug. 19.