Walker, Peter W. "Large Scale Development Projects and Land Use Planning in Nova Scotia"

Large scale development projects are known to cause significant physical, social and economic change in affected communities, but the precise nature and extent of such change remains difficult to predict. The development of onshore oil and gas facilities associated with any future development of Nova Scotia's offshore petroleum resources, in particular, remains a potential catalyst for rapid and disruptive community change.

The historical record of six large scale development projects built, or planned to be built, in the province is examined in this paper. The results highlight the need for advanced preparatory planning. The recurring experiences associated with such projects, of longer than anticipated periods of construction and larger than predicted workforces, illustrate the need both for public disclosure of project information and for the independent verification of developer's claims. Similar trends of unexpected development have been experienced for onshore projects in Scotland, associated with petroleum development in the North Sea.

Municipal officials in Nova Scotia not only have a limited mandate to deal with large scale developments, but do not have a good track record of cooperation with the Province or, indeed, amongst themselves. Furthermore, the province's land use planning process is shown to be inadequate to the task of development control with respect to large projects, clearly indicating that changes are necessary to deal with the consequences of any future large scale development proposal. In order to redress these inadequacies, recommendations are made to the provincial government to help improve the ability of municipalities to control and direct any such development and to support local planning initiatives related to future offshore activities.

Atlantic Planners Institute

This page and all contents are produced by the Atlantic Planners Institute, an affiliate of the Canadian Institute of Planners.

This document was last modified on January 9, 2001.