Economy, housing, accessibility among priority areas
Upcoming open house will be chance for public to learn more about proposed changes, share thoughts, ask questions
The Municipality of Argyle has updated its municipal planning strategy (MPS) and land-use bylaw (LUB) and is looking to hold an open house in the spring where people can learn more about draft planning documents that have been prepared for the municipality.
The planners working on the project have looked at a variety of issues, from regulations for cannabis production, to trying to preserve the darkness of the municipality’s night sky.
The process of reworking the municipality’s MPS and LUB included a number of sessions with different groups, as well as an online survey.
“We came here twice in the fall,” said Anne Winters, a planner with WPS in Dartmouth who has been working on the project. “In between those two meetings, I think we had five or six different workshops. One workshop was with staff, another was with council, another was with local community groups.”
The planning team also picked a number of places in the municipality, including a few local businesses and the Experience of Argyle event, hoping to talk to people and hear what they had to say.
The places chosen for engagement with the public were picked because they were fairly high-traffic areas.
“We got a lot of really great feedback,” said Winters, who gave an overview of the initiative to Argyle council at its meeting of March 10.
Using input from the community and stakeholders, the planners came up with five goals to help map out the direction residents would like the municipality to go in over the next two decades or so.
“What does the community want to see for the next 20 years, so that’s really what this municipal plan is meant to do,” Winters said.
The goals are:
Increase the diversity and resiliency of the local economy.
Increase the diversity of housing options across the municipality.
Foster an active and accessible community for all ages and abilities.
Protect and enhance the natural, cultural and built heritage.
Foster resilient, sustainable and distinct communities.
The planners came up with a number of recommendations, each falling under one of the identified goals. Some examples of what they did or are proposing:
Regulations for new industries such as aquaculture and cannabis production.
Permission for more diverse housing forms, like group dwellings, town homes.
Policies to support and encourage the use of active transportation.
Recommended adoption of provincial accessibility standards.
Emphasis on accessibility and age-friendly needs in the transportation network and public places.
Lighting standards to maintain “dark skies” designation.
Floodplain protections to restrict certain types of development, and requirement of a floodplain study to acquire permits.
Riparian buffer areas to limit development impacts to watercourses.
As for the next steps in the process, Winters said, “We’ll go back and make a couple of tweaks. There may still be a bit of feedback coming in, so we’ll do some minor edits to the two documents — the municipal plan and the landuse bylaw — and then the formal engagement process will begin.”
That process will include, among other steps, a public hearing.
As of last week’s council meeting, a date had yet to be set for an open house, but Alain Muise, the Municipality of Argyle’s chief administrative officer, said it likely would be during the week of March 30.