Balancing Development and Environmental Protection in a Rural Commuter Belt: The 2006 Halifax Regional Plan

Abstract

This paper provides a case study of growth management policies in the newly approved Halifax Regional Municipal Planning Strategy (RMPS), with emphasis on how the plan reconciles or balances urban expansion with rural conservation. This plan is unique in Canada and perhaps North America, in being both a regional and municipal policy document, and is likely to be more effective than 2-tier planning approaches. Earlier plans promoted planned suburbs in geologically suitable areas close to Halifax, but failed to control large-lot development with onsite services in rural areas beyond the urban service boundary. The RMPS explicitly controls commuter sprawl to minimize its negative environmental and fiscal impacts, through several innovative growth-management policies designed to reduce and redirect rural subdivision. Growth will be encouraged in district and local growth centres and strongly discouraged on intervening lands. The plan also promotes compact and orderly extensions to serviced urban areas, with emphasis on transit-oriented development and maximum use of urban infrastructure. KEYWORDS: growth management, urban containment, regional planning, sprawl, environment, Halifax