Province amending Halifax's charter to 'remove barriers' to housing development, minister says

The Nova Scotia government says it's making amendments to Halifax Regional Municipality's charter in an effort to further speed up new housing developments.

"We're introducing new regulations to remove barriers and create more opportunities for housing in the HRM," Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister John Lohr said in an interview with CBC News on Wednesday.

The new amendments include the following changes to the HRM charter's minimum planning requirements regulations:

• Manufactured housing, like modified shipping containers, will now be permitted in all residential zones.
• Residential uses will be allowed in most zones, where appropriate.
• New developments in the "urban service area" will no longer have to meet specific on-site parking requirements.
• Temporary housing will be permitted to be built in all zones to help employees working on construction sites live near or on the site during their assignment.

The province is also amending the regulations to push the city to introduce a secondary municipal planning strategy for suburban areas by "no later than" Jan. 31, 2025, something Lohr said is particularly important. 

"This has held up development in suburban areas that are incredibly important and having this municipal planning strategy done will enable that to go forward in ways that it hasn't been able to to date." he said.

An additional amendment was made to require the city to adopt a bylaw to allow the implementation of a trusted partner program so qualified developers can fast-track projects. Lohr said no deadline has been set for the adoption of this bylaw, recognizing that it will take time to develop the program.

Lohr said many of the new regulations come in the wake of a 2022 independent report from Deloitte that recommended the changes, including the push for a suburban plan and the elimination of minimum parking requirements for new developments. 

They follow the controversial passing of Bill 329 in 2023, which upset Halifax Mayor Mike Savage and other city councillors by giving Lohr the power to approve development projects across the entire municipality.

City preparing report, won't meet plan deadline

In a statement, the municipality said it had been aware these regulations would likely be announced and it will be preparing a report on the amendments to present to regional council. 

"Staff will be evaluating the resource implications of the regulations to understand and manage any short to medium term impacts to operations," the city said in an email.

The deadline to deliver a new suburban plan, however, "is not feasible in this timeframe," the municipality said.

The city said it would instead provide an update on the work being done on the plan to "demonstrate progress."

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