Land Use Bylaw Amendments

A Public Participation Meeting regarding a range of amendments to the Town of Yarmouth Land Use Bylaw (and complementary amendments the the Municipal Planning Strategy) has been scheduled for Tuesday, March 4, 2025, 6pm at the Town Hall - 400 Main St in Yarmouth.

The Town of Yarmouth is considering a range of changes to the Land Use Bylaw to:

Clarify and simplify the planning review and approvals process for boarding homes, and comprehensive residential projects on large lots. by simplifying the Town’ planning review and approval process.

1. Clarify and simplify the planning review process with respect to approvals of:

A. Boarding and rooming homes - The Land Use Bylaw permits up to 3 rooms (per boarding house) as-of-right. Boarding homes with more than 3 rooms may be only permitted by Development Agreement or Site Plan Approval. In some situations, this process represents a barrier to some owners/operators preventing the Town from formally approving any existing or proposed boarding homes. This often results delays in issuance of required building permits which ensure compliance with applicable building & safety codes. The proposed changes are intended to offer more flexibility to future and existing operators and clarify the required planning review process.

B. Comprehensive residential projects on large lots - Currently, the Land Use Bylaw permits a maximum of 8 units on lots larger than 2 hectares by Site Plan Approval in the Comprehensive Development Zone. The proposed amendments aim to clarify requirements under the Site Plan Approval process and introduce additional incentives (e.g., larger number of units as-of-right) to encourage new residential projects.

2. Provide additional clarity and flexibility for (permitted) local food production and producers - Currently, the Comprehensive Development Zone and Residential Holding Zone permit a range of limited agriculture uses (i.e., growing of crops). However, the existing rules limit the number of main buildings (e.g. greenhouses) and accessory buildings (e.g. storage and sheds). The goal of the proposed amendments is to respond to recent inquiries to provide more flexibility in this regard and better enable local food production activities.

3. Add ‘Construction Trades and Contractors’ use (contained within buildings) to the General Commercial Zone.

NOTE: The above noted amendments may also require complementary changes to the Town of Yarmouth Municipal Planning Strategy.