HRM receives extended deadline for Minimum Planning Regulations

Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) has begun a 30-day public consultation period inviting residents to share their input on changes to the municipality’s Minimum Planning Regulations.

In August 2024, the province of Nova Scotia announced new regulations in an effort to remove barriers for housing in HRM. The regulations, under the Halifax Regional Municipality Charter, require the municipality to make increasing housing supply the priority focus in all land-use planning, regulations, decisions and development approvals under the municipal planning strategy.

“The measures we’ve put in place with Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) are working, and the government has made significant progress in speeding up development in our province’s largest city,” Colton LeBlanc, Minister of Growth and Development, said in a press release. “Housing starts are up over 25 per cent, and HRM issued 6,057 building permits for new residential units in the last year.”

Some changes to the charter’s Minimum Planning Requirements Regulations include:

• Permitting residential uses in most zones, where appropriate
• Removing on-site parking requirements for developments in the urban service area
• Ensuring height restrictions do not impact density for mass timber residential developments
• Removing unit-mix requirements and reducing the percentage of ground-floor commercial space required in residential buildings started before April 1, 2027
• Permitting manufactured housing, including modified shipping containers, in all residential zones
• Permitting temporary housing in all zones to allow employees to live on or near a work site during an assignment
• Adopting a secondary municipal planning strategy for suburban areas by January 31, 2025.

The original deadline for HRM to implement the regulations was Dec. 31, 2024, but an extension was granted after Halifax Mayor Andy Fillmore cited the need for more time to effectively implement the new regulations under a new council.

The new deadline for implementing the regulations is June 30.

“Let me be clear. This will be the one and only extension,” LeBlanc said. “It’s incumbent on HRM to ensure planning and projects are moving forward, swiftly. My government understands the urgency, and development in HRM will not stop. Our goal to bring more housing to Nova Scotians, faster, will not change.”

The public consultation period is open until Feb. 24. Amendments will be brought forward as part of the Regional Plan Review in the spring.