The West Hants Planning Advisory Committee (PAC) is holding a public meeting Feb. 21 at 7 p.m. in the West Hants council chambers to seek public input on revised drafts of the proposed West Hants Municipal Planning Strategy, Land Use By-law and Subdivision By-law. If adopted by council, these documents will guide development and land use in the municipality over the next eight to 10 years. So it is important that residents understand what is proposed and how it may affect them.
The new drafts include changes made to address concerns raised at public meetings last June when a previous version of the documents was circulated.
At that time, one of the biggest concerns was a land use by-law provision that required non-farm dwellings in agricultural zones to be located within 300 ft. of the road. While this would have helped prevent houses being built in the middle of fields, resulting in large areas of land being taken out of production, it was considered too restrictive and has been deleted.
Off-highway vehicles
Many people at the June meetings were worried about the potential for noise from motocross or other off-highway vehicle courses. These developments are to be considered by development agreement -- a contract between the municipality and the landowner requiring a public hearing and council approval. New provisions have been added requiring tailpipe inserts or other noise reduction devices and a limit on the number of races or spectator events that can be held in a year.
In Three Mile Plains, the most contentious issue was mobile homes. To address this, the new drafts propose that in both Three Mile Plains and Falmouth, mobile homes will be permitted only in manufactured-home parks considered by council through a development agreement, and not on separate lots. Existing mobile homes will not be affected by this change, and mini homes will continue to be allowed in the Two-Unit Residential (R-2) zone.
New setback for wind turbines
West Hants Council wants to encourage the use of clean renewable energy, so the new documents provide for both large and small wind turbines. The siting of turbines can be controversial, however, and some residents at the June meetings suggested greater setbacks should be considered. PAC chairperson Coun. Shirley Pineo referred to the Committee’s discussions on the subject and said, “we shared the concern and wanted to find a way to address it without limiting people too much.”
As a result, a new requirement has been added for small wind turbines -- less than 100 kW -- to be located at least 200 ft. from a neighbouring home. In addition, there are height and minimum lot size provisions, as well as set backs from lot lines. Large utility-scale wind turbines or wind farms are to be considered by development agreement, allowing a more in-depth review by council and the public with respect to their location.
For more information, see the complete documents and information summaries at the Windsor-West Hants Planning Dept., 76 Morison Drive, Windsor-West Hants Industrial Park, 798-6900, or
www.windsorwesthantsplanning.ns.ca, and see next week’s Hants Journal for more details.
by Brent Fox/The Advertiser 
