Case 01338

Business Parks Development

Functional Plan

Greater Burnside Area

Background
The Regional Municipal Planning Strategy (RMPS) establishes HRM’s intention to prepare a Business Parks Development Functional Plan (BPDFP) to guide future development of HRM owned business parks.  Functional Plan Draft Report

The BPDFP includes a number of recommendations regarding potential amendments to the RMPS, Dartmouth Municipal Planning Strategy (MPS) and Land Use By-law (LUB) applicable to the Greater Burnside Area.

Overview
Council has directed staff to use the land use related recommendations of the BPDFP as a framework to guide potential amendments to the applicable planning documents. All lands within Burnside are designated Industrial by the Dartmouth Municipal Planning Strategy and zoned I-2 (General Industrial) under the Dartmouth Land Use By-Law. The Industrial designation and I-2 Zone contain broad provisions and permit a wide range of commercial and industrial uses. The BPDFP recommends the creation of several, more specific, designations and zones in order to prioritize the supply of land for categories of uses (i.e. light industrial, distribution, office, commercial) and focus those uses in appropriate and strategic locations.

Council also directed staff to undertake additional consultation in order to consider all potential land uses for the HRM owned lands located southeast of a powerline corridor that is built along a ridge between Dartmouth Crossing and Wilkinson Avenue in Burnside (area map). The BPDFP recommends this area for light industrial uses. Dartmouth Crossing recently rezoned 35 hectares of their land in this area to permit consideration of a mixed use development, including medium and high density residential uses.

An addendum to the BPDFP recommends that light industrial uses, of a limited scale and lot coverage, are appropriate for the steep terrain in the area and would be compatible with the adjacent existing industrial uses in Burnside as well as Dartmouth Crossing’s potential residential development.

Status

A public meeting was held on January 27, 2010 at Dartmouth High School to seek the public’s input on potential future land uses in this area of Burnside. The minutes of the meeting, including the public input session, will be provided in a staff report to Regional Council. HRM also sought public input through a short online survey. The results of the survey will also be included in the staff report.

Subsequent opportunities to discuss the other land use related recommendations of the BPDFP will be organized in the future. In addition to this survey and other public meetings, any amendments to planning documents will also require a public hearing before Regional Council.

Contact Information

For further information, please contact: