BILL NO. 67

(as introduced)

2nd Session, 61st General Assembly
Nova Scotia
59 Elizabeth II, 2010

Government Bill

Halifax Regional Municipality Charter
(amended)

The Honourable Ramona Jennex
Minister of Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations

First Reading: May 5, 2010

(Explanatory Notes)

Second Reading: May 6, 2010

Third Reading: May 10, 2010 (LINK TO BILL AS PASSED)

Clause 1 defines "conservation property".

Clause 2 deletes the word "minor" in the term "minor variance" in relation to a community council's authority to grant variances.

Clause 3 gives Halifax Regional Municipality the benefit of amendments made to the Municipal Government Act and the Assessment Act in the Fall 2008 sitting of the House which were inadvertently left out of the Halifax Regional Municipality Charter.

Clause 4 amends the by-law making authority of the Council with respect to tree cutting.

Clause 5 permits HRM to establish maximum, as well as minimum, street frontage and lot area requirements for lots and minimum, as well as maximum, density of lots.

Clause 6 amends the HRM subdivision by-law authority.

Clause 7 gives HRM the benefit of amendments made to the Municipal Government Act respecting civic numbers.

Clause 8 includes fences in the authority of the Municipal Engineer to remove certain obstructions in relation to streets.

Clause 9 increases the time period in which by-law enforcement personnel may lay a charge for the breach of a land-use by-law or development agreement from six months to two years.

Clause 10 provides that Sections 1 and 3 have effect on and after February 17, 2009.

1 Section 3 of Chapter 39 of the Acts of 2008, the Halifax Regional Municipality Charter, is amended by adding immediately after clause (n) the following clause:

(na) "conservation property" has the same meaning as in the Assessment Act;

2 Subsection 30(4) of Chapter 39 is amended by striking out "minor" in the second line.

3 Chapter 39 is further amended by adding immediately after Section 98 the following Section:

98A (1) The Minister of Environment shall in each year pay to the Municipality in respect of conservation property exempt from taxation situate therein a grant equal to the amount that would have been due and payable to the Municipality had each conservation property in the Municipality continued to be classified as it was immediately before becoming conservation property.

(2) Notwithstanding anything in this Act or any other Act of the Legislature authorizing a tax on the assessed value of property, no change in use tax is payable by reason of a property becoming conservation property.

(3) Where any land, or part thereof, to which this Section applies, ceases to be conservation property, a change in use tax, determined by the assessor pursuant to the Assessment Act, equal to twenty per cent of the value of the land, or part thereof, that ceased to be conservation property is due and payable to the Municipality by the person determined by the assessor to have been responsible for the change in use.

(4) Notwithstanding subsection (3), no change in use tax is payable by reason of the ownership of conservation property being transferred to Her Majesty in right of the Province or Canada or to a municipality.

(2) Subsection 190(3) of Chapter 39 is repealed and the following subsections substituted:

(3) Subsection (2) does not apply to land used for agricultural or forestry purposes.

(4) The Council may make by-laws, for municipal purposes, establishing watercourse buffer zones in which existing trees or vegetation must be retained or only removed pursuant to a municipal permit.

(a) striking out "minimum" in the first line of clause (a); and

(b) striking out "maximum" in clause (h).

6 Subsection 281(3) of Chapter 39 is amended by adding immediately after clause (j) the following clauses:

(ja) with respect to subdivision applications that are located outside the serviced area as that term is defined in Section 190 and that are for the creation of ten or more lots, requirements for hydrogeological impact assessments including an evaluation of the quality, quantity and sustainability of water supply within the proposed subdivision and an evaluation of the cumulative impacts on water supplies outside of the proposed subdivision;

(jb) in areas where hydrogeological impact assessments are required, water supply standards that must be met before a subdivision can be approved, for quantity, sustainability of water supply and for the cumulative impact on water supplies outside of the proposed subdivision;

(a) striking out "(1)" in the first line; and

(b) striking out "buildings" in the second line of clause (a) and substituting "properties, including buildings, and other locations".

8 (1) Subsection 331(1) of Chapter 39 is amended by adding "or remove or alter a fence" immediately after "vegetation" in the second line.

(2) Subsection 331(2) of Chapter 39 is amended by

(a) adding "or remove or alter a fence" immediately after "vegetation" in the second and third lines; and

(b) adding "or the fence to be removed or altered, as the case may be" immediately after "trimmed" in the third line.

9 Chapter 39 is further amended by adding immediately after Section 370 the following Section:

370A Notwithstanding the Summary Proceedings Act, the limitation period for the prosecution of an offence under a land-use by-law or a development agreement is two years from the date of the commission of the alleged offence.