Land Use
Subdivision
Development Permit Application

Land Use

The responsibility for land use planning has primarily rested with
municipalities since the first planning legislation in 1912. Such
planning powers currently reside in the Municipal Government Act
(MGA). The MGA enables municipalities to adopt municipal
planning strategies (MPS) and land use by-laws (LUB). The MGA
also retains a role for the Province through such things as the
adoption of Statements of Provincial Interest (Statements). At
present there are five Statements in effect. The control of
development through a permitting process (i.e. development permit)
however, is a municipal responsibility. As with the subdivision
approval process, the MGA provides clear authority to
municipalities to institute processing fees for development approvals.
All but three municipalities in Nova Scotia have an MPS & LUB in
effect for all or part of its jurisdiction.

Municipal Planning Strategies give general direction on the future development of the municipality. Land Use By-laws give more specific details on land usages in municipalities.

Subdivision

The subdivision of land into developable parcels is usually the first
step, although it is not a necessary one in every case. Municipalities
have, since 1939, had the power under planning legislation to
regulate the subdivision of land through provincially prescribed
subdivision regulations and the adoption of a municipal subdivision
by-law. Many municipalities took advantage of these powers over
the years.

Within the last 15 years there have been a number of changes to the
provisions governing the subdivision of land. In particular,
following the enactment of a new Planning Act in 1983, Provincial
Subdivision Regulations were put into effect. With this, for the first
time all parts of the province had some form of control over the
subdivision of land. The purpose of having province-wide
regulations were really threefold: to provide a single and uniform
definition of subdivision across the province, to facilitate the land
title system by requiring plans of subdivision to be filed in the
Registry of Deeds and to provide some consumer protection by
requiring proper lot access and adequate lot size. For those areas
that previously had not had subdivision controls in effect, the
Province assumed responsibility for administration (i.e.
development officers). In 1995, with Municipal Reform Act, the
Province turned over responsibility for these remaining areas to
their respective municipalities. Under the Municipal Government
Act municipalities have the power to establish fees to recover costs
for the processing of subdivision applications and approvals.

Development Permit

You can click the link below to download a copy of the application in PDF format.

Development Permit Application