Town of Yarmouth Planning Review

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Project Update!

The next draft engagement phase will begin later in October, 2025. Stay tuned for updates!

About the Project

The Town of Yarmouth Planning Review is a project to review the Municipal Planning Strategy, Land Use Bylaw and Subdivision Bylaw for the Town of Yarmouth. The Municipal Government Act, which governs how municipalities operate in Nova Scotia, requires planning documents to be reviewed at least once every 10 years. The Town of Yarmouth's planning documents were last reviewed in 2016.

The planning documents include:

  1. The Municipal Planning Strategy is the primary planning document that guides growth and development in Yarmouth. It lays out the vision, goals, and policies that guide how growth and development are managed within the Town.
  2. The Land Use Bylaw is the companion document to the Municipal Planning Strategy, and puts the vision, goals, and policies into action through specific regulations that have to do with development activities. This includes where certain types of buildings can be built and what kind of land uses (like commercial, residential or industrial) can happen where.
  3. The Subdivision Bylaw is a planning document that guides how a parcel of land can be divided into two or more lots, or how multiple lots can be combined to create one parcel. It also guides the construction of new services in new subdivision developments, such as streets, sewers, water lines, parkland, and sidewalks.

Together, these documents guide the Town of Yarmouth by determining what types of development can happen, and where.

The Town of Yarmouth Planning Review presents an exciting opportunity to establish a vision for the Town and to ensure our planning and development processes better serve our residents and businesses.

Your input will help to inform future changes to the Town's planning bylaws and policies.

How Can I Participate?

The next round of engagement starts in October 2025. Stay tuned for details on how you can provide your feedback!

Past Engagement

The Issues & Options Engagement took place in January and February 2025 and involved a series of workshops for residents to learn more about specific topics and discuss potential policy directions for the draft planning documents. The topics included Housing, Economic Development & Tourism, Recreation & Transportation, Culture, Heritage & Environment, and finally the Urban Structure. The What We Heard & Policy Directions Report from the Issues & Options phase of engagement is available in the Documents Library.

If you missed our public meetings to introduce the project, check out the recording in the "Videos" menu on the right hand side of your screen. The video is less than 20 minutes and gives an overview of the project, explains what planning is and how it works, and lets you know how you can participate throughout the duration of the project. If you have any questions, you can email the project team at planningreview@townofyarmouth.ca

You can now read the What We Heard Report from the first phase of engagement, detailing the results from the engagement activities, including the public survey. Check out the report in the Documents section to the right hand side of your screen.

Project Update!

The next draft engagement phase will begin later in October, 2025. Stay tuned for updates!

About the Project

The Town of Yarmouth Planning Review is a project to review the Municipal Planning Strategy, Land Use Bylaw and Subdivision Bylaw for the Town of Yarmouth. The Municipal Government Act, which governs how municipalities operate in Nova Scotia, requires planning documents to be reviewed at least once every 10 years. The Town of Yarmouth's planning documents were last reviewed in 2016.

The planning documents include:

  1. The Municipal Planning Strategy is the primary planning document that guides growth and development in Yarmouth. It lays out the vision, goals, and policies that guide how growth and development are managed within the Town.
  2. The Land Use Bylaw is the companion document to the Municipal Planning Strategy, and puts the vision, goals, and policies into action through specific regulations that have to do with development activities. This includes where certain types of buildings can be built and what kind of land uses (like commercial, residential or industrial) can happen where.
  3. The Subdivision Bylaw is a planning document that guides how a parcel of land can be divided into two or more lots, or how multiple lots can be combined to create one parcel. It also guides the construction of new services in new subdivision developments, such as streets, sewers, water lines, parkland, and sidewalks.

Together, these documents guide the Town of Yarmouth by determining what types of development can happen, and where.

The Town of Yarmouth Planning Review presents an exciting opportunity to establish a vision for the Town and to ensure our planning and development processes better serve our residents and businesses.

Your input will help to inform future changes to the Town's planning bylaws and policies.

How Can I Participate?

The next round of engagement starts in October 2025. Stay tuned for details on how you can provide your feedback!

Past Engagement

The Issues & Options Engagement took place in January and February 2025 and involved a series of workshops for residents to learn more about specific topics and discuss potential policy directions for the draft planning documents. The topics included Housing, Economic Development & Tourism, Recreation & Transportation, Culture, Heritage & Environment, and finally the Urban Structure. The What We Heard & Policy Directions Report from the Issues & Options phase of engagement is available in the Documents Library.

If you missed our public meetings to introduce the project, check out the recording in the "Videos" menu on the right hand side of your screen. The video is less than 20 minutes and gives an overview of the project, explains what planning is and how it works, and lets you know how you can participate throughout the duration of the project. If you have any questions, you can email the project team at planningreview@townofyarmouth.ca

You can now read the What We Heard Report from the first phase of engagement, detailing the results from the engagement activities, including the public survey. Check out the report in the Documents section to the right hand side of your screen.

Questions, Anyone?

Do you have questions about the Town of Yarmouth Planning Review? If so, you can email them directly to planningreview@townofyarmouth.ca, or submit them right here.

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  • Share Although bicycles were 0% on the pie chart—in the what we heard document, has there been discussions on infrastructure to include bicycle lanes? The airport stretch is a good place to insert a bike lane. I have an e-bike and it can be scary on our roads. I believe people may bike more if we built safe lanes for users. The long term benefit is less traffic, congestion, road wear, accidents, and an uptake on physical activity. Electric bikes are increasingly gaining popularity as an efficient way to commute. Has there been talks with municipal units to increase this capacity? Thank you and best regards. on Facebook Share Although bicycles were 0% on the pie chart—in the what we heard document, has there been discussions on infrastructure to include bicycle lanes? The airport stretch is a good place to insert a bike lane. I have an e-bike and it can be scary on our roads. I believe people may bike more if we built safe lanes for users. The long term benefit is less traffic, congestion, road wear, accidents, and an uptake on physical activity. Electric bikes are increasingly gaining popularity as an efficient way to commute. Has there been talks with municipal units to increase this capacity? Thank you and best regards. on Twitter Share Although bicycles were 0% on the pie chart—in the what we heard document, has there been discussions on infrastructure to include bicycle lanes? The airport stretch is a good place to insert a bike lane. I have an e-bike and it can be scary on our roads. I believe people may bike more if we built safe lanes for users. The long term benefit is less traffic, congestion, road wear, accidents, and an uptake on physical activity. Electric bikes are increasingly gaining popularity as an efficient way to commute. Has there been talks with municipal units to increase this capacity? Thank you and best regards. on Linkedin Email Although bicycles were 0% on the pie chart—in the what we heard document, has there been discussions on infrastructure to include bicycle lanes? The airport stretch is a good place to insert a bike lane. I have an e-bike and it can be scary on our roads. I believe people may bike more if we built safe lanes for users. The long term benefit is less traffic, congestion, road wear, accidents, and an uptake on physical activity. Electric bikes are increasingly gaining popularity as an efficient way to commute. Has there been talks with municipal units to increase this capacity? Thank you and best regards. link

    Although bicycles were 0% on the pie chart—in the what we heard document, has there been discussions on infrastructure to include bicycle lanes? The airport stretch is a good place to insert a bike lane. I have an e-bike and it can be scary on our roads. I believe people may bike more if we built safe lanes for users. The long term benefit is less traffic, congestion, road wear, accidents, and an uptake on physical activity. Electric bikes are increasingly gaining popularity as an efficient way to commute. Has there been talks with municipal units to increase this capacity? Thank you and best regards.

    Hollydun asked 9 months ago

    Hello! The Town has an Active Transportation Strategy that helps to lay out its priorities and plans regarding cycling infrastructure. The municipal planning documents can contain policy to support the development of active transportation infrastructure and provide regulations around requirements for things like bike parking, but they do not contain detailed commentary on the placement of infrastructure, as that is something that would be covered in the Active Transportation Strategy (linked above). 

    The draft planning documents will be released within the next couple of weeks and we can provide greater detail at that time about what's proposed that could support active transportation in the Town.

    Thanks so much for your question - and we couldn't agree more on the wonderful benefits of active transportation!

  • Share How was the attendance of the meetings on issues and options in January? Are they ongoing? on Facebook Share How was the attendance of the meetings on issues and options in January? Are they ongoing? on Twitter Share How was the attendance of the meetings on issues and options in January? Are they ongoing? on Linkedin Email How was the attendance of the meetings on issues and options in January? Are they ongoing? link

    How was the attendance of the meetings on issues and options in January? Are they ongoing?

    Kellianne asked 7 months ago

    Hi Kelliane - the issues and options engagement sessions had varied, but generally strong attendance. Our smallest session had only 6 participants, and our biggest was 25. The rest averaged about 15 participants. The next phase of engagement - where the first drafts of the new planning documents will be released and available for public comment - will be launching later this week. Stay tuned for updates! 

Page last updated: 09 Oct 2025, 04:00 PM