Public Participation Policy

Planning & Development Public Participation Policy

OCTOBER 13, 2023

TAKE NOTICE THAT Halifax Regional Council did, on Tuesday, June 20, 2023 approve the following:

Case 2023-002 – HRM-Initiated application respecting public participation for planning documents, certain planning applications, and engagement with abutting municipalities, amendments to Administrative Order 48 respecting the Creation of Community Councils, and amendments to the Regional Municipal Planning Strategy and Community Municipal Planning Strategies and Land Use By-laws.

The planning documents have been reviewed and approved by the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing as per the Halifax Regional Municipality Charter.

This notice was posted to this site on October 13, 2023 in accordance with the requirements of the Halifax Regional Municipality Charter.

Background

The Planning and Development Department (P&D) has updated its public engagement strategy to advance best practices in diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. The previous public participation policy dates to 1997.

P&D staff developed a Public Engagement Guidebook to help staff develop a consistent approach to engagement for proposed planning documents, and amendments, and for other proposed policies, programs, and services. On August 9, 2022, Regional Council directed staff to develop a new Administrative Order on Public Participation to:

• set minimum standards for public engagement;
• set requirements for engaging with neighbouring municipalities; and
• direct how the Public Engagement Guidebook should be used to develop public participation programs.

To support the new Administrative Order on Public Participation, we reviewed existing community plans and land use by-laws and identified that these plans have different engagement requirements in different communities. The new Administrative Order ensures consistent requirements across the region and help residents to clearly understand the standards of engagement. To support the new Administrative Order, the existing community Municipal Planning Strategies and Land Use By-laws were amended to ensure these planning documents are consistent with the direction provided by Regional Council and the legislative requirements of the HRM Charter.

Planning Document Amendments:

To coincide with adoption of the Administrative Order on Public Participation, amendments were approved to existing community planning documents. This ensures that engagement requirements are consistent with the Public Participation AO, resolve conflicts with HRM Charter requirements and remove outdated language. The amendments for the Regional Municipality Planning Strategy, Municipal Planning Strategies and Land Use By-laws included:

• Adding new policy in the Regional Plan to support the implementation of the Guidebook and Administrative Order;
• Removing outdated references to public hearing procedures. Public hearing procedures are set out in the HRM Charter and do not need to be repeated in the individual planning documents.
• Removing redundant references to specific committees or other advisory groups. The Terms of Reference for the various committees already outline how we engage with these committees. This does not need to be repeated in the individual planning documents.
• Removing outdated legislative references (e.g. the Municipal Government Act or the Planning Act). The HRM Charter replaced both Acts.

The detailed amendments can be found within Attachments C, D, and E of the staff report.

View the Summary Table for more detailed information on the proposed changes for each Municipal Planning Strategy and Land Use By-Law.