The Nova Scotia government is giving itself the power to proactively designate land for future priority transportation corridors, a move that would see people with property beside those areas need a permit from the province before doing certain work.
The Transportation Corridor Control Act is included in an omnibus bill tabled by Municipal Affairs Minister John Lohr at Province House on Thursday.
“This will help improve on-time, on-budget delivery of significant transportation infrastructure by minimizing delays and improving co-ordination between landowners, municipalities and utilities,” Lohr said during a bill briefing.
According to the legislation, once an area is designated a corridor, no one can build upon, alter or develop property that is on or within 30 metres without a permit issued by the minister.
Utility companies would not be able to do work that requires grading or excavation on or under corridor land, or within 10 metres of it, without the minister’s permission.
The province would also be able to enter private property within 30 metres of transportation corridor land for the purpose of conducting site preparation. The minister could also order the removal of a structure, part or all of a building or vegetation within the buffer zone if required.
Peter Hackett is the deputy minister of Link Nova Scotia, the organization that oversees transportation in the province.
He said the idea of requiring a permit from the province before a development permit from a municipality is issued within a buffer zone is to ensure there are no conflicts.
The legislation would not affect the province’s existing process for expropriations or the negotiations for land the government determines it needs.
Matt Neville, a planner with Link Nova Scotia, called it an “up-front checkbox” to help landowners, the province, municipalities or utilities co-ordinate activity “in a very constrained, difficult corridor to work in.”
Although officials said they don’t have any firm plans yet for potential corridors, a long-awaited transportation study released last month gives insight into what could be on the table.
Property tax reductions for rebuilds
That report looks at a widening of Highway 102, the potential of a commuter rail service and rapid bus transit in Halifax Regional Municipality, among other options. Officials said the province already has a policy related to development along 100-series highways and that this new legislation would focus on other areas.
Along with the new transportation corridor legislation, the so-called Municipal Modernization Act also includes 13 amendments to six other pieces of legislation.
The government is giving municipalities the ability to reduce property taxes for homeowners who rebuild their homes after they’re destroyed by a natural disaster.
The issue was highlighted in 2023, when people in Upper Tantallon who lost their homes in a devastating wildfire were going to see their property taxes increase because their newly rebuilt homes were considered new builds for tax purposes.
After community lobbying, the Progressive Conservatives made a change earlier this year for that specific situation. The change in Thursday’s bill will give all municipalities the ability to set their own policies.
With wildfires still burning in the Annapolis Valley, Lohr said it stands to reason that the province will continue to experience more frequent and extreme weather.
“Unfortunately, sometimes homes are lost.”
Other changes in the bill
The legislation will also exempt child-care centres from land-use bylaws in Halifax Regional Municipality that would have delayed or prevented their development.
The PCs made a similar change in recent legislation dealing with health-care facilities and Lohr said the step is necessary as the government continues to work to meet the demand for new child-care spaces.
Other changes in the bill include:
- Allowing for electronic payment at tax sales.
- Permitting municipal returning officers to vote in elections.
- Allowing public notices and advertisements about municipal elections to be posted in places other than newspapers, including online.
- Granting people the ability to have their name removed or obscured from the voters lists made public and shared during elections.
- Allow more people to participate in the Cogswell Energy District that do not fall within the district.
