By Kirk Starratt
The Nova Scotia Supreme Court has upheld a ministerial decision to disallow the rezoning of farmland in Greenwich.
In handing down a decision Feb. 13, Justice Arthur Pickup said Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations Minister John MacDonell was within his rights to overturn an earlier decision by Kings County Council to rezone the subject property.
In his written decision, Pickup said he was not satisfied the minister’s decision was unreasonable on the basis alleged by the applicants. The minister was exercising his discretion under the Municipal Government Act. Pickup dismissed the application and awarded $2,000 in costs to the respondent.
“The minister, in his decision, indicated that the documents submitted by the municipality did not support the need to remove the land from agricultural use,” Pickup wrote.
The goal, in the Statement of Provincial Interest Regarding Agricultural Land, is to “protect agricultural land for the development of a viable and sustainable agriculture and food industry.” It goes on to state agricultural land is being lost to non-agricultural development and there are land-use conflicts between agricultural and non-agricultural uses. Planning documents must address the reasons why agricultural land cannot be protected for agricultural use.
“I am satisfied that it was within his discretionary authority for the minister to follow the line of reasoning that he did and, specifically, to take account of the necessity to remove that land from agricultural use. I see nothing unreasonable in his interpretation,” Pickup wrote.
Council approved the rezoning of about 380 acres of agricultural land between the hamlet of Greenwich and the Town of Wolfville to create the Greenwich Comprehensive Development District in February 2011. MacDonell overturned the decision upon ministerial review March 23.
The rezoning would have cleared the way for mixed commercial and residential development.
The applicants involved in the so-called Elderkin et al planning consideration – Peter Elderkin, Doug Hennigar, Harold Forsyth, Hal Stirling and Catherine Streatch – filed a notice of judicial review with the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia April 27. They appealed MacDonell’s decision on the grounds that he erred in law or exercised his discretion in an unreasonable manner. The judicial review took place Oct. 3 in Halifax and the justice reserved his decision.
