Coastal Protection

Council will discuss the proposed Coastal Protection regulations at a regularly scheduled Council meeting on Tuesday April 23, 2024. The meeting will begin at 9 a.m. and will be held in Council Chambers at the Municipal Office (10 Allee Champlain Drive, Cookville).

Council meetings are open to the public, and any interested residents are encouraged to attend to learn more about the proposed Coastal Protection regulations. Click the following link to view Council’s agenda for April 23, 2024.

Council will discuss the Draft Coastal Flooding Map pertaining to the proposed Coastal Protection regulations at a regularly scheduled Council meeting on Tuesday April 9, 2024. The meeting will begin at 9 a.m. and will be held in Council Chambers at the Municipal Office (10 Allee Champlain Drive, Cookville).

Council meetings are open to the public, and any interested residents are encouraged to attend to learn more about the proposed Coastal Protection regulations. Click the following link to view Council’s agenda for April 9, 2024. Draft maps can be found at the top right of this page.

Today, the Government of NS announced The Future of our Coastline: Nova Scotia’s plan to protect people, homes, and nature from climate change and it provided Coastal Property owners with resources and planning tools to help them plan for the effects of climate change. These resources included a Coastal Hazard Map (and Users Guide) so that coastal property owners can see what sea level rise and storm surge could look like on their property at high tide in the year 2100; a Navigator Service (to help residents use the Coastal Hazard Mapping Tool and understand your results); and a Coastal Adaptation Toolkit.

MODL has prepared a draft Coastal Protection Land Use Bylaw which was scheduled to proceed to First Reading tomorrow (Feb 27, 2024). MODL did not have access to the resources and tools that were announced today by the province and, on a brief review of the provincial information, it appears that there is some discrepancies between the scientific information that we relied upon in creating our Coastal Protection Land Use Bylaw and the information that the Province relied upon in creating the Coastal Hazard Map. In order to ensure that we are using the best information available, I will be recommending that Council pause the First Reading of the Coastal Protection Land Use Bylaw to permit staff to review the information released by the Province earlier today. Under the circumstances, I fully expect that Council will agree with my recommendation and that the First Reading of the Coastal Protection Land Use Bylaw will be removed from tomorrow’s Council Agenda.

In addition, given the number of comments and questions received by members of Council regarding the Cluster Development Land Use Bylaw, I will also be requesting that we pause the First Reading of the Cluster Development Land Use Bylaw as well to allow for additional public engagement with residents. Again, I anticipate that Council will support my recommendation on this item as well.

On February 27, 2024, during a regularly scheduled Council meeting, the Coastal Protection regulations will be brought forward to Council in the form of an amended Municipal Planning Strategy and a new Municipal-Wide Land Use By-law. The meeting will begin at 9 a.m. and will be held in Municipal Council Chambers at 10 Allee Champlain Drive, Cookville. Council meetings are open to the public and any interested residents are encouraged to attend.

The Municipality of the District of Lunenburg's (MODL) current Municipal Planning Strategy needs to be repealed and replaced with a new document that includes edits to older sections and the addition of new sections pertaining to the Coastal Protection policies. To view the proposed amended Municipal Planning Strategy, please click here.

In addition, a new Municipal-Wide Land Use By-law document has also been prepared which contains Coastal Protection regulations. The document contains standard regulatory information such as title and purpose, definitions, administration, and a general provisions section that includes specific Coastal Protection regulations. To view the proposed new Municipal-Wide Land Use By-law, click here.

An interactive map that residents can use to see where the new Coastal Protection regulations will be applied in their community is also available. To view the map, click here.

A staff report outlining the approvals process has been prepared and is available by clicking here. Next steps in this process involve public information meetings and a formal public hearing. This website will be updated as soon as dates and times are confirmed.

On January 9, 2024, Council discussed alternative options for the Coastal Protection regulations. After hearing input from the public and a thorough discussion, Council passed three motions which included that Council endorse:

1. The proposed regulations contained within Option 1 Coastal Flooding, as presented in Appendix I, Table 1, with the addition that non-conforming allowances are permitted effective of the date of the by-law, and direct staff to draft a Municipal Planning Strategy amendment and new Land Use By-law respecting these measures, and report back to Council with draft regulations for First Reading.
2. The proposed regulations contained within Option 2 Coastal Erosion, as presented in Appendix I, Table 2, and direct staff to draft a Municipal Planning Strategy amendment and new Land Use By-law respecting these measures, and report back to Council with draft regulations for First Reading.
3. The proposed regulations contained within Option 1 Sensitive Coastal Ecosystems, as presented in Appendix I, Table 1, and further, add wording to exclude all rivers from the coastal regulations, and direct staff to draft a Municipal Planning Strategy amendment and new Land Use By-law respecting these measures, and report back to Council with draft regulations for First Reading.
   
   

Click here to view the regulations options report for Coastal Protection.

Staff is now drafting policies for Coastal Protection and is targeted to return to Council for First Reading in February 2024.

Council will discuss staff alternative recommendations pertaining to the Coastal Protection regulations at a regularly scheduled Council meeting on Tuesday January 9, 2024. The meeting will begin at 9 a.m. and will be held in Council Chambers at the Municipal Office (10 Allee Champlain Drive, Cookville).

Council meetings are open to the public, and any interested residents are encouraged to attend to learn more about the proposed Coastal Protection regulations. Click the following link to view Council's agenda for January 9th, 2024. Draft maps, can be found at the top right of this page.

On Tuesday November 28, 2023, Municipal Council met during a regularly scheduled Council meeting to discuss the recommendation of the Planning Advisory Committee pertaining to the Coastal Protection regulations. Staff provided a detailed presentation outlining the recommendations for Coastal Flooding, Coastal Erosion, and Coastal Ecosystems. To listen to the November 28, 2023, Council meeting recording, click here.

After a thorough discussion, Council passed the following motion:

“That Municipal Council direct Staff to prepare alternative options for coastal protection land use policy recommendations based on the public consultation, Planning Advisory Committee recommendation and Council deliberations."

Staff is expected to return to Council with alternative options for the coastal protection land use policy recommendations on Tuesday January 9, 2024. The meeting on January 9 is a regularly scheduled Council meeting and will begin at 9 a.m. in Council Chambers at the Municipal Office (10 Allee Champlain Drive, Cookville). An agenda and report for the January 9 meeting are expected to be posted both on modl.ca and MODL's Engage site on Thursday January 4, 2024.

Council meetings are open to the public and any interested residents are encouraged to attend to learn more about the proposed regulations.

Council will discuss the Planning Advisory Committee's recommendation pertaining to the Coastal Protection regulations at a regularly scheduled Council meeting on Tuesday November 28, 2023. The meeting will begin at 9 a.m. and will be held in Council Chambers at the Municipal Office (10 Allee Champlain Drive, Cookville).

Council meetings are open to the public, and any interested residents are encouraged to attend to learn more about the proposed Coastal Protection regulations. Click the following link to view Council's agenda which includes the Planning Advisory Committee's recommendation, available on this site under Background Documents. Draft maps, which are associated with the Planning Advisory Committee's recommendations, can be found at the top right of this page.

The Planning Advisory Committee's recommendation to Council pertaining to the Coastal Protection regulations is scheduled to appear on the agenda at the November 28, 2023, Council meeting.

Council meetings are open to the public, and any interested residents are encouraged to attend to learn more about the proposed Coastal Protection regulations.

You can now read the Coastal Protection Recommendations Report!

The Recommendations Report outlines staff recommendations for regulating coastal development and protecting the coast in the Municipality going forward. A special Planning Advisory Committee meeting that is open to the public will be held at the Best Western (527 Nova Scotia Trunk 10, Cookville) on October 12, 2023, starting at 7 p.m. where planning staff will present the recommendations and hear from the public and the committee. The event will also be live-streamed on the MODL Facebook Page.

To read the full report, click the following link: https://engage.modl.ca/36890/widgets/154176/documents/115101