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Councillor’s
Communiqué : May 2005 - Issue # 90
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FINAL PHASE OF
REGIONAL PLAN
As the fastest growing region
in Nova Scotia, our population base increased 26%
from 1971 to 2001 to more than 359,000 residents.
The greatest impact of this growth has been
experienced just outside of the urban core, in the
region's suburban and rural commuter shed areas.
Populations in both these areas have doubled since
1971. And research projects have estimated that up
to an additional 100,000 new residents will live and
work in HRM by 2028. That is why HRM embarked on the
arduous task to prepare a new Regional Plan (RP)
that will address issues associated with this
growth.
The Regional Planning
Committee (RPC) was established in March 2003 to
make recommendations to staff and Regional Council
and to guide the policies that will make up the RP
to shape HRM's growth. The RPC's mandate was to
guide the creation of a RP based on public
consultation, professional expertise, Vision 20/20
and HRM's Corporate Priorities. Now the RP is about
to enter the final phase of its evolution. In late
April 2005, Regional Council will be advised of the
RP final draft policies and a public participation
strategy will be rolled out over several Regional
Council Committee of the Whole Meetings from April
26th to May 3rd in order to give Regional Council an
opportunity to fully debate each segment of the
plan. Eastlink Television (Cable TV - Channel 10)
has been able to rearrange their broadcasting
schedule in order to bring the viewing public live
coverage of these important meeting sessions. (
Please tune in to be informed.) |
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OVERVIEW OF
REGIONAL PLAN The RP
will be brought forward to Regional Council over a
period of days. HRM will publicize these dates once
confirmed to encourage public engagement. Come to
City Hall or watch the RP debate on Eastlink TV
Cable 10. On April 26th, an Overview of the RP as a
local government tool with differing levels of
detail and where to intersect for various topics
will be given. On April 27th, the RP will focus on
the topics of Natural Environment; Economy; Cultural
and Heritage Resources. On April 28th,
Transportation, Settlement Patterns, Housing
Diversity and Affordability will be discussed. On
May 3rd, the RP Implementation Process; Governance;
Finance and the schedule of Public Input and
Community Consultations will be tabled. Regional
Council will asked to endorse a public consultation
plan, in order to receive policy feedback before the
RP become doctrine. Your views and input are
important to ensure that this RP will address the
local development concerns and future plans that you
may have. Hopefully the RP will answer the four key
questions that it was entrusted to do from the
outset: 1. What locations are regionally significant
to support economic expansions ?, 2. What type of
transportation investment do we want to facilitate
growth ?, 3. Where should we encourage settlement
areas over the next 25 years ?, and 4. How do we
protect our environmental assets? If so, then HRM
should be able to adopt a broad Regional Plan which
will fulfil the vision of having and promoting our
healthy, vibrant, sustainable communities. |
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PUBLIC INPUT
WORKSHOPS The
following is a tentative schedule for the various
public input workshops that will held throughout HRM
in order to get your views on the RP before its
policies are finalized and implemented. All
workshops are expected to be conducted from 4:30 -
10:00 PM. Please consult the HRM RP web-site for
more details and confirmation of these dates, time
and venues:
www.halifax.ca/regionalplanning
Mon., May 16th : Oldfield
School - Enfield
Thurs., May 19th : Cole
Harbour Place
Wed., May 25th : St.
Margaret's Centre
Thurs.,May 26th : Lakefront
School - Tangier
Mon., May 30th : Halifax West
High School
Wed., June 1st : East Preston
Recreation Ctr
Mon., June 6th : Dartmouth
High School
Wed., June 8th : Heritage Hall
- Pier 21
Thurs., June 9th : Sackville
High School |
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