COLDBROOK, N.S. — Kings County council will consider first reading of proposed new Municipal Planning Strategy (MPS) and Land Use Bylaw (LUB) documents at a special meeting.
The meeting will be held in the council chambers at the municipal complex at 181 Coldbrook Village Park Dr. on Oct. 10 at 6 p.m. Council will consider first reading of the documents, which have been in the works for more than eight years.
Also on the agenda, if first reading is approved, is setting a public hearing date for the draft planning documents. Nov. 14 at 6 p.m. is being proposed for the hearing.
Chief administrative officer (CAO) Scott Conrod confirmed that the hearing would be followed immediately by another special meeting of council to consider second and final reading.
At the October regular monthly council session, Coun. Martha Armstrong moved to table first reading of the documents and for the matter to be brought back within two weeks.
She said she wasn’t comfortable moving forward with alternative recommendations for agricultural land proposed by staff at that time, as she hadn’t had time to fully digest them.
The county’s planning advisory committee (PAC) and staff are both proposing the elimination of so-called pre-1994 lot and poor soil lot exemptions in the agricultural district that allow for residential development. These provisions are in the current land use planning documents.
As an alternative regulation, PAC and staff are each recommending a provision for infill lots in the agricultural district.
PAC is recommending allowing infill lots with 240 feet of road frontage and a maximum distance of 300 feet between dwellings. This could potentially create 160 new building lots on land zoned Agricultural.
Staff is recommending 240 feet of road frontage and a maximum distance of 500 feet between houses, which could potentially create 505 new building lots.
Staff is also proposing an alternative recommendation when it comes to the Port Williams growth centre boundary.
In June, the CAO presented to PAC requesting consideration of moving the northern boundary line as requested by the village commission to help protect the community’s water supply and support residential growth. PAC didn’t make a motion in support of this.
According to a staff report presented by director of planning and inspections Trish Javorek, “current-day ownership suggests uses beyond farming” and “development patterns over the last eight years indicate a change to the growth centre boundary is required to accommodate future growth.”
The boundary extension wouldn’t include as much land as was proposed in 2010. That proposal was overturned by the province on ministerial review.
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