Planning Appeal Rules
made under Section 20 of the
Energy and Regulatory Boards Act
S.N.S. 1992, c. 2, Sch A
N.S. Reg. 288/1992 (December 14, 1992)
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]
[Notice of appeal]
[Contents of notice of appeal]
[Service of notice of appeal]
[Written undertaking for costs of advertising]
[Joint undertaking to pay costs of advertising]
[Amending notice of appeal]
[Prehearing conference]
[Preliminary hearing]
[Setting date for hearing]
[Notice of hearing]
[Service of notice of hearing by appellant]
[Adjourning hearing]
[Filing appeal record and relevant documents]
[Conduct of hearings]
[Board may require briefs]
[Destruction of exhibits]
Form A—Notice of Appeal
1 These rules are made pursuant to Section 12 of the Utility and Review Board Act and
apply to any appeals to the Board under the Planning Act.
[Citation]
2 These rules may be cited as the Planning Appeal Rules.
[Definitions]
3 In these rules
(a) “Act” means the Planning Act;
(b) “agent” means a person who has been lawfully authorized to act on behalf
of the appellant;
(c) “appeal” includes any proceeding, matter or thing that the Board has
jurisdiction to hear or determine under the Act;
(d) “appellant” means the person who is appealing to the Board under the Act;
(e) “Board” means the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board;
(f) “Clerk” means the Clerk of the Board.
(g) “decision” includes a refusal, failure or neglect to make the decision sought;
(h) “person” includes an unincorporated organization.
[Notice of appeal]
4 An appeal to the Board shall be by notice in writing.
[Contents of notice of appeal]
5 (1) The notice of appeal shall state
(a) the name of the appellant;
(b) the decision appealed from;
(c) the name of the person making the decision;
(d) the date of the decision;
(e) the date that the decision was advertised, if applicable;
(f) a brief summary of the decision;
(g) the grounds of appeal;
(h) the address of the appellant or the name and address of an individual upon
whom documents or notices relating to the appeal may be served;
(i) a phone number, if available, at which the appellant or the individual
referred to in clause (h) may be reached during normal business hours.
(2) A notice of appeal shall be signed by the appellant or the agent or solicitor acting
on behalf of the appellant.
(3) A notice of appeal may be in Form A.
[Service of notice of appeal]
6 Service of the notice of appeal on the Board may be effected by
(a) personal service on a member or employee of the Board;
(b) leaving a copy at the Board’s office; or
(c) mailing a copy to the Clerk; or
(d) forwarding a copy to the Clerk via facsimile transmission; provided that the
notice of appeal is received by the Board within the time specified in the
Act.
[Written undertaking for costs of advertising]
7 (1) A notice of appeal shall be accompanied by the written undertaking of the
appellant, his solicitor, or his agent, agreeing to pay the costs of advertising the
notice of hearing for the appeal.
(2) Where a notice of appeal filed with the Board is not accompanied by the required
written undertaking, the Board may extend the time for filing such undertaking
provided, however, that such extension of the time shall not exceed 14 days from
the date of filing the notice of appeal.
(3) Failure by the appellant, his solicitor, or his agent to file the written undertaking
shall not preclude the Board from setting the appeal down for hearing, advertising
the notice of hearing, and thereafter recovering the cost of such advertisement from
the appellant.
[Joint undertaking to pay costs of advertising]
8 When more than one notice of appeal is filed with the Board, arising out of the same
decision, or affecting the same matter, the Board may require the several appellants, or
their solicitors or agents, to file a joint undertaking agreeing to pay the cost of advertising
a notice of hearing.
[Amending notice of appeal]
9 (1) Subject to subsection (2), a notice of appeal may be amended at any time with
leave of the Board.
(2) A notice of appeal may not be amended for the purpose of adding appellants.
[Prehearing conference]
10 (1) In any appeal, the Board may itself or on the application of any party, request the
parties to appear before it for a prehearing conference to consider
(a) the simplification of the issues;
(b) the necessity or desirability of an amendment to the notice of appeal;
(c) the participation by interested persons;
(d) a request for access to information in the custody or control of any party;
(e) any other matter which may aid in the disposition of the appeal.
(2) If agreed to by all parties, a prehearing conference may be conducted by telephone.
[Preliminary hearing]
11 On the application of any party, the Board may hold a preliminary hearing to
(a) determine any relevant question as to the Board’s jurisdiction to hear the
appeal;
(b) determine any question as to the admissibility of any evidence;
(c) consider an application for an order dismissing the appeal on the grounds
that no appeal lies to the Board;
(d) determine any other matter which may aid in the disposition of the appeal.
12 (1) The member of the Board who presides at a prehearing conference or a preliminary
hearing shall not necessarily be required to hear the appeal.
(2) Unless otherwise ordered by the Board, it shall not be necessary to give notice of a
preliminary hearing by advertisement in a newspaper.
[Setting date for hearing]
13 (1) The Clerk, in consultation with the parties, shall attempt to set a date for the
hearing of the appeal.
(2) Where the parties cannot reach agreement as to a date, the Chair shall set a date for
the hearing.
[Notice of hearing]
14 The Clerk shall notify the parties of the date of the hearing.
[Service of notice of hearing by appellant]
15 (1) The Board may require the appellant to serve, not later than two weeks before the
date of the hearing, such other persons as the Board determines with a copy of the
notice of hearing.
(2) Service of the notice of hearing by the appellant may be effected by one or more of
the following:
(a) by personal service;
(b) by leaving a copy at the person’s proper address;
(c) by sending a copy by ordinary mail addressed to the person at his proper
address;
(d) in such other manner as the Board may determine.
(3) Service of the notice of hearing may be proved by affidavit, oral testimony or both.
[Adjourning hearing]
16 (1) Subject to subsection (2), the Board, either upon its own motion, or upon
application of any party, may adjourn a hearing from time to time.
(2) Where an adjournment is requested after the notice of hearing has been published
in the newspaper or the appellant has served the notice of hearing, the request for
an adjournment shall be considered on its merits at the commencement of the
hearing.
[Filing appeal record and relevant documents]
17 (1) The municipality which is the respondent to the appeal shall, not later than one
week prior to the date of hearing,
(a) file with the Clerk two copies of an appeal record and one copy of the
relevant municipal planning strategy, land use by-law, zoning by-law,
subdivision by-law or subdivision regulations;
(b) deliver to the appellant and any other party one copy of the appeal record.
(2) An appeal record shall consist of the following:
(a) a table of contents;
(b) the application;
(c) the decision under appeal;
(d) a copy of the advertisements for any public hearing held relating to the
subject of the appeal;
(e) a copy of the minutes of any public hearing respecting the subject of the
appeal;
(f) a copy of the minutes of any council meeting at which the subject of the
appeal was discussed;
(g) a copy of any report, letter, submission, recommendation or other matter
respecting the subject of the appeal which was submitted to or was
considered by council or the Development Officer, excluding any legal
opinion prepared for the municipality.
(3) The pages of the appeal record shall be numbered.
(4) Nothing in this Section shall be deemed to prejudice the right of any party to
inspect and obtain copies of any documents prior to the time that the appeal record
is to be filed.
(5) In the case of an appeal from a decision of the Provincial Director of Planning or a
Provincial Development Officer, the appeal record shall be prepared and filed by
the Provincial Director of Planning or the Provincial Development Officer who
made the decision.
[Conduct of hearings]
18 Hearings may be conducted in an informal manner and need not follow the strict rules of
practice and procedure required by a court of law.
[Board may require briefs]
19 The Board, whenever it deems it desirable, may require briefs to be filed by the parties
within such time as the Board may prescribe.
[Destruction of exhibits]
20 The Board may destroy any exhibits remaining in its custody at the expiration of six
months from the date of the decision, unless the return of those exhibits is requested by
the party filing them, provided no appeal or judicial review of the decision has been
commenced.
________________________________________________________________
Form A—Notice of Appeal
NSUARB-
Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board
IN THE MATTER OF: An appeal under the Planning Act, R.S.N.S. 1989, c. 346
) State names of
) person(s)
) appealing
NOTICE OF APPEAL
TAKE NOTICE that the appellant(s) appeal from a decision ______________
by_______________ located at _______________________ in the County of
__________________ made the ______ day of _____________, 19___, which decision:
)
) State details
) of the decision
)
AND THAT the grounds of appeal are:
1
2......
DATED at ____________ , Nova Scotia, this ______ day of ________ 19___.
______________________________
Appellant, Solicitor or Agent
Address:
(Street)
Home phone:
(City, Province)
Work phone:
(Postal code)
Undertaking to Pay Costs
The appellant(s) hereby agrees to pay the costs of any advertising of the notice of hearing for
the Appeal.
_____________________________
(signature)
The following regulations are not
yet in force and are not included in the current consolidation: