Minimum Planning Requirements Regulations
made under subsection 214(4) of the
Municipal Government Act
S.N.S. 1998, c. 18
N.S. Reg. 140/2019 (effective December 3, 2019)
amended to N.S. Reg. 51/2025 (effective March 7, 2025)
Table of Contents
Please note: this table of contents is provided for convenience of reference and does not form part of the regulations.
Click here to go to the text of the regulations.
Citation
Definitions
Review of planning documents
Mandatory content
Matters subject to other enactment of Province
Discretionary content related to planning tools
Discretionary content related to engagement
Discretionary content related to fiscal matters
Discretionary content related to the natural environment
Discretionary content related to social aspects
Discretionary content related to resource lands, infrastructure and economic development
Discretionary content related to culture, heritage and landscape features
Discretionary content related to general matters
Wind turbine setback requirement
Matters considered before approving wind turbine development
Citation
1 These regulations may be cited as the Minimum Planning Requirements Regulations.
Definitions
2 In these regulations,
“Act” means the Municipal Government Act;
“residential dwelling” means a permanent structure used for human habitation and
includes a house, condominium, apartment building, cottage, mobile home or
trailer.
Review of planning documents
3 (1) A council must include policies in a municipal planning strategy on how it intends
to review the municipal planning strategy and land-use by-law that implements the
municipal planning strategy.
(2) A municipal planning strategy and its implementing land use by-law must be
reviewed no later than 10 years after the later of the following dates:
(a) the date it was adopted;
(b) the date it was last reviewed;
(c) the effective date of these regulations.
(3) Where a municipality has one or more secondary planning strategies, subsection
(2) shall be satisfied if a municipal-wide municipal planning strategy and all the
land use by-laws applicable in the municipality are reviewed within the timelines
provided in subsection (2).
(4) “Review” in relation to a municipal planning strategy, means a municipality’s
consideration of the content of a municipal planning strategy to determine if it
should be amended or replaced to ensure that it meets the purposes outlined in
Section 213 of the Act and the minimum planning requirements.
Mandatory content
4 In addition to the requirements prescribed in subsection 214(1) of the Act, a municipal
planning strategy must contain all of the following:
(a) a discussion of the background and contextual information that informed the
goals and objectives of the municipal planning strategy;
(b) a map of the lands within a municipality that depicts the intended future
uses of the lands as contemplated by the municipality’s municipal planning
strategy;
(c) statements of policy with respect to the lands subject to the municipal
planning strategy in relation to all of the following:
(i) residential uses,
(ii) commercial and industrial uses,
(iii) institutional uses,
(iv) recreational facilities and public open spaces,
(v) resource uses, where resources are present within a municipality;
(d) a statement of policy describing the procedures to be followed when
reviewing a municipal planning strategy that must provide for public
consultation and notice.
Matters subject to other enactment of Province
5 (1) A municipality may include in its municipal planning strategy statements of policy
on land use relating to any of the matters set out in Sections 6 to 13 unless the
matter is the subject of another enactment of the Province.
(2) Provided it is not prohibited by another enactment, statements of policy referred to
in subsection (1) may be more stringent than another enactment.
Discretionary content related to planning tools
6 A municipal planning strategy may include statements of policy on the use, content,
development, and administration of the following:
(a) zoning;
(b) development agreements;
(c) comprehensive development districts;
(d) site-plan approval areas;
(e) incentive or bonus zoning;
(f) accepting and using cash-in-lieu of required parking;
(g) studies to be carried out before undertaking specified developments or
developments in specified areas;
(h) staging development;
(i) non-conforming uses and structures;
(j) subdividing land;
(k) regulation or prohibition of development in areas based on noise exposure
forecast or noise exposure projections.
Discretionary content related to engagement
7 A municipal planning strategy may include statements of policy on engaging with
provincial and federal departments, First Nations, and non-abutting municipalities.
Discretionary content related to fiscal matters
8 A municipal planning strategy may include statements of policy on any of the following:
(a) municipal investment for public and private development and coordinating
public programs relating to the economic, social and physical development
of the municipality;
(b) eligibility criteria for establishing a commercial development district
including all of the following:
(i) the percentage increase in the taxable assessed value of the eligible
properties, as defined in subsection 71C(1) of the Act, within the
proposed commercial development district,
(ii) the period over which the increase in the taxable assessed value of
the properties occurs.
Discretionary content related to the natural environment
9 A municipal planning strategy may include statements of policy on any of the following:
(a) climate change mitigation and adaptation;
(b) protecting the natural environment and biodiversity;
(c) protecting the coast;
(d) protecting water supplies;
(e) identifying, preserving and protecting landscape features;
(f) stormwater management and erosion control;
(g) excavating or filling of land, the placement of fill or the removal of soil;
(h) identifying, protecting, using and developing any of the following:
(i) lands subject to flooding,
(ii) steep slopes,
(iii) lands susceptible to subsidence, erosion or other geological hazards,
(iv) wetlands or other environmentally sensitive areas.
Discretionary content related to social aspects
10 A municipal planning strategy may include statements of policy on any of the following:
(a) how social issues must be incorporated into decision making;
(b) promoting social well-being;
(c) housing opportunities for a range of social and economic needs and to
support aging in place;
(d) promoting community food security;
(e) accessibility standards to help prevent and remove barriers that disable
people;
(f) walkability;
(g) healthy built environments.
Discretionary content related to resource lands, infrastructure and economic development
11 A municipal planning strategy may include statements of policy on any of the following:
(a) protecting and using resource lands;
(b) infrastructure including municipal services and facilities and the means of
recovering their cost;
(c) generating, using, and conserving energy;
(d) transportation services and networks including establishing transportation
reserves;
(e) home occupations and home-based businesses.
Discretionary content related to culture, heritage and landscape features
12 A municipal planning strategy may include statements of policy on any of the following:
(a) heritage property protection and heritage buildings;
(b) sites of cultural, historical or archeological interest;
(c) other significant natural or human-made features.
Discretionary content related to general matters
13 A municipal planning strategy may include statements of policy on any of the following:
(a) public health and safety;
(b) land use matters relating to the physical, economic or social environment of
the municipality not otherwise prescribed in these regulations;
(c) the minimum setback required between a residential dwelling and a wind
turbine;
(d) the matters that the council must consider before approving a wind turbine
development.
Wind turbine setback requirement
14 (1) Any statement of policy included in a municipal planning strategy in accordance
with clause 13(c) on the minimum setback required between a residential dwelling
and a wind turbine, that is part of, or located within, an energy-generating facility
with a production rating of 2 MW or greater, must not require a minimum setback
larger than the greater of the following:
(a) 4 times the wind turbine height;
(b) the distance required to ensure that
(i) sound levels from the wind turbine do not exceed 40 dBA at the
exterior of a residential dwelling, and
(ii) a residential dwelling receives less than 30 minutes per day or 30
hours per year of shadow flicker.
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), wind turbine height is measured as the distance
from
(a) for a wind turbine other than a roof-mounted wind turbine, the average
finished grade of the wind turbine to 1 of the following:
(i) the highest point of the wind turbine rotor,
(ii) the tip of the wind turbine blade when it reaches its highest elevation;
(b) for a roof-mounted wind turbine, the building’s average finished grade to 1
of the following:
(i) the highest point of the wind turbine rotor,
(ii) the tip of the wind turbine blade when it reaches its highest elevation.
Matters considered before approving wind turbine development
15 Any statement of policy included in a municipal planning strategy in accordance with
clause 13(d) on matters that council must consider before approving a wind turbine
development must not include the visual impact or aesthetic appearance of a wind
turbine development.
The following regulations are not yet in force and are
not included in the current consolidation: