Rural plan still in works for region

Progress continues on a new planning document that will help steer future development in the rural areas of Tantramar.

Ron Corbett, director of the Tantramar District Planning Commission, said several open house discussion meetings were held in December and January in six communities in the region, providing the rural residents with an opportunity to provide their feedback on the proposed plan.

Nearly 4,000 residents live in the outlying, non-incorporated areas of Tantramar - from Rockport to Shemogue - and Corbett said putting this type of plan into place for the region's rural communities will allow greater flexibility for growth in those districts.

"The whole purpose of this is to provide some kind of structure so that, in the long term, they (the residents) will know where the community is going," he said.

The plan is being developed at the request of the Tantramar Association of Local Service Districts, who applied to the Environment Minister several years ago for such a document to be put into action.

Being developed in consultation with local residents and stakeholders, the plan is currently in draft form and has broken down the rural land uses into residential, agricultural, commercial, industrial, coastal and conservation zones.

Corbett explained the rural areas currently don't follow any set guiding principles when it comes to new developments (although provincial legislation must be met) so there's not a lot of protection or control when it comes to regulating land use. This new rural plan will ensure those procedures are put into place without waylaying development.

Corbett said a number of issues were raised by concerned citizens during the recent open house meetings, including questions about whether the rural life they have come to enjoy will still be maintained with the implementation of this plan.

He insisted that the plan is being developed with that particular objective in mind.

"This will protect uses in the rural area in the long term," he said. "And it will give the community the protection to at least know what's happening, particularly when it comes to commercial or industrial developments."

He said many people also raised concerns over the impact a new plan might have on existing developments, specifically backyard commercial businesses that have been in operation for many years in their communities.

Corbett said he expects the plan would only affect a minimal amount of local enterprises, if any.

"The plan was developed to identify the uses already being done there and to identify any conflicts in uses."

Local farmers and others who have a stake in the agricultural community also raised concerns over the proposed plan, particularly in relation to the plans to develop a combined agricultural/conservation zone.

Corbett said the farmers, in cooperation with the provincial and federal governments, have spent a lot of money to improve the agricultural land in the area and they related their concerns that a new land designation could "jeopardize what they can do later on to develop that land."

So the planning commission will be continuing discussions in the next few months with the agricultural community to resolve these concerns.

Corbett said many of the residents who attended the open house sessions were also alarmed that a plan was being developed to amalgamate the rural areas with Sackville or that they would become part of a larger regional municipality with the southeast district, an idea that stemmed from the Finn report released last year.

He said there is no intent at this time to merge the non-incorporated areas with the larger municipalities, and the rural plan will simply provide an improved guideline for development in those areas.