News Release

Council approves Regional Plan review and Urban Centre plan initiation

(Tuesday, October 4, 2011) - Work will soon begin on a five-year review of HRM’s Regional Plan, and onthe next phase of the ground-breaking HRMbyDesign plan to strengthen development closer to the centre of the municipality.

Regional Council voted today to approve a review of the Regional Plan, asignificant planning initiative first adopted in 2006. This review, known as RP+5, isdesigned to further enhance the ways in which HRM plans for sustainable growth and strong communities. This issues-based review will be shaped by four themes: A focus on sustainable solutions; improved suburban and urban design; coordinated land-use and transit planning; and, enhancing the Regional Centre.

“The Regional Plan and HRMbyDesign have helped us target growth where it makes sense from an economic, environmental and community-building perspective,” said Mayor Peter Kelly. “Today’s approvals are an affirmation of the good work that has been done and the need to continue to develop clear, predictable development approval processes and plan for well-designed communities.”

The Regional Centre theme of the reviewwill be expanded uponin the next phase of the HRMbyDesign, the Centre Plan, which will focus on planning for liveable and prosperous neighbourhoods closer to the downtown.

“The Centre Planwill at last provide our neighbourhoods the protection from inappropriate development they have been asking for, while at the same time create significant opportunities for growth in areas than can accommodate it and benefit from it,”said Andy Fillmore, HRM’s Urban Design Project Manager.

Council also approved the establishment of a Community Design Advisory Committee to advise Council on RP+5 and the Centre Plan work. The committee – made up of ninecitizens and six members of Council - will assume the mandates of the Regional Plan Advisory Committee and the Urban Design Task Force, which will be disbanded.

The five-year review and the further development of theCentre Plan were articulated as future requirements at the time the Regional Plan was adopted in June, 2006, and are prominently positioned in the 2011-2016 HRM Economic Strategy.



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Contact:
Mayor Peter Kelly
490-4010

Andy Fillmore
Project Manager, Urban Design
490-6495