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The following definitions are intended to provide clarity to the Regional Municipal Planning Strategy (MPS). They are not legal definitions, nor a legal part of the Regional MPS. Definitions contained in the Regional Land Use Bylaw are to be used for regulatory administration of the Regional Municipal Planning Strategy.
Abutting - A property is said to abut another property where there is a property line in common between the two properties. The term also applies to buildings that share a wall, as in the case of attached or row style buildings. Abutting Land Use Designations appear on the Generalized Future Land Use Map with common boundary lines.
Active Transportation - Human-powered, personal travel chosen as an option to motorized travel and includes walking, running, hiking, the use of wheelchair, cross-country skis, skateboard or canoe or kayak on water.
Adjacent - Properties or buildings are said to be adjacent to one another when they are clearly abutting, but also more inclusively when they are clearly within one another’s visual sphere of influence. For example, buildings that are visible to each other across a roadway, street, or backyard are said to be adjacent, whereas buildings that are next to one another are said to be both adjacent and abutting.
Apartment - A room or suite of rooms with kitchen facilities occupied or capable of being occupied as an independent and separate housekeeping establishment.
Apartment Building - A single building comprising three or more dwelling units but does not include townhouses.
As Appropriate - This term is used in the Regional MPS to allow flexibility in the approach used to successfully meet the objectives and implement the policies of the Regional MPS.
Background Studies - Certain types of analyses that must take place before detailed secondary planning exercises can be completed. These studies, such as watershed analyses and urban design studies for the Capital District are defined in policy.
Best Management Practices - A systematic method of operation that a designated agency or government body determines to be the most effective, practical means of reducing pollution and/or the consumption of natural resources.
Boarding Or Rooming House - A dwelling in which the proprietor supplies either room or room and board, for monetary gain. Also known as Single Room Occupancy (SRO).
Brownfield Site - Properties which had contained industrial or commercial uses, which have been abandoned, or are underused and in decline. Brownfields are sometimes characterized by derelict buildings, contamination resulting from previous industrial uses, or undesirable activity occurring on or near the sites
Buffer - A separation distance intended to reduce the impact between two adjacent uses or a human activity and a natural feature. For example a riparian buffer, along a stream or river, would serve to protect the water course from damage caused by erosion or contamination from a building site.
Business Parks and Industrial Parks - A large, contiguous area purposely developed to contain only commercial or industrial uses. Generally, business parks contain retail, commercial, and office uses whereas industrial parks are dominated by both light and heavy manufacturing uses.
Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) - A public urban transportation system using busses to transport passengers quickly between major stops or stations.
Capital Cost Charges (CCC’s) - Charges associated with new development to cover the related indirect cost of water systems, wastewater systems, storm water systems, streets, traffic signals, bus bays, and intersection improvements.
Capital District Sub-designation - The downtown commercial areas of both Halifax and Dartmouth (and their respective waterfronts), as well as the Gottingen Street, Spring Garden Road and Quinpool Road commercial areas. The Sub-designation also includes other areas of influence such as nearby hospital, university, defence and port lands.
Carrying Capacity - The number of individuals who can be supported in a given area within natural resource limits, and without degrading the natural social, cultural and economic environment for present and future generations.
Centralized Services - A system of pipes and related facilities leading to (for sewage) a common collection point or treatment facility, or coming from (for water) a common source and distribution network. Contrast with shared septic systems and on-site septic systems.
Centre - A centre include lands suitable for significant residential growth, and are already, or will become, focal points for varying levels of service, amenity and employment for the surrounding communities. HRM will continue to make investments in communities not designated as centres.
Character - The combined effect of all of the architectural elements of a building or group of buildings.
Community Planning Strategy - A Secondary Planning Strategy pursuant to the Municipal Government Act, which forms part of the Regional Municipal Planning Strategy (MPS). Community Planning Strategies include all municipal planning strategies that were in existence at the time of the adoption of the Regional MPS and will include future planning strategies adopted to guide and direct development in greater detail at the community level than can be dealt with under the Regional MPS.
Community Visioning - a process that will be initiated upon the adoption of the Regional Plan to explore how the Regional Plan could be expressed in different ways in different locations while retaining its overall intent. Community Visions will define goals and objectives compatible with this Plan while bearing in mind limited municipal resources. The process will be broad in scope, involving many different disciplines such as architecture, engineering, ecology and open space design. In this way, the Community Visioning will prepare the way for the official Secondary Plan reviews that will follow. While it will have no legal status, it will be useful for understanding options and opportunities which the reviews themselves will take into account.
Comprehensive Development Designation (CDD) - An area where specified new developments are subject to an agreement between the proponent and the Municipality before they can proceed.
Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) - A method of preventing crime by changing or managing the physical environment to produce behavioural effects that will reduce the incidence and fear of crime.
Cultural Landscapes - geographic areas which have been modified, influenced or given special cultural meaning. These cultural landscapes provide opportunities for the interpretation and understanding of important historical settings and past patterns of land use.
Density - A measure of the number of people or housing units occupying a given area of land. The measure reflects the general character of the housing types in a neighbourhood. Low density generally refers to a neighbourhood that would result from an area developed as one and two unit housing; medium density generally applies to townhouses or apartment buildings no higher than 3 storeys; and high density generally refers to taller apartment buildings resulting in more people per hectare.
Eco-system - A biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment.
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) - A legislated process to identify, analyse and evaluate the anticipated effects of development on those elements of the natural environment that are deemed to be environmentally sensitive and/or significant. The purpose of an EIA is to determine if a proposed development can proceed without irreparable damage to those areas that this plan sets out to protect.
Environmentally Sensitive/Significant Area - An area in which a biological or physical feature is highly susceptible to damage, or is rare, unique or important enough to warrant its protection.
Estuary - the region near a river mouth affected by tides and where the fresh water of the river mixes with the salt water of the sea.
Fine Particulate Matter (PM) - Airborne microscopic particles in the air created by air pollution such as burning fossil fuels and wood.
Floodplains - Low and flat lands adjacent to rivers, lakes and oceans subject to periodic flooding.
Flood Risk Areas - Areas where flooding is likely to occur.
Floodway Fringe (1 in 100 Year) - A Floodplain that is likely to flood on average once every 100 years.
Floodway Zone (1 in 20 Year) - A Floodplain that is likely to flood on average once every 20 years.
Functional Plans - The purpose of a functional plan is to guide the management of the Municipality. They do not represent land use policy but rather HRM’s intent to create detailed management guides for setting budgets for programs, services and facilities consistent with the implementation of this Plan. Functional Plans will also guide HRM in the ongoing management of strategic initiatives, partnerships and demonstration projects useful to seeing the full potential of this Plan realized over time.
Generalized Future Land Use Map (GFLUM) - A map showing broad locations where different classes of land uses are intended to occur
Geographical Information System (GIS) - A method of electronically mapping, storing and retrieving data on parcels of land.
Goal - A statement that describes a general, desirable future end-state. Goals are used to guide planning, policies, programming, and land use.
Greenhouse Gas (GHG) - Any gas that traps reflected heat from the earth’s surface and contributes to global warming. Water vapour (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2) methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) and ozone (O3) are the primary greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere.
Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions -The act of releasing a greenhouse gas to the atmosphere from a source.
Groundwater - Water found below the surface of the land, either in soil or bedrock. Groundwater supplies dug or drilled wells.
Habitat - The land and water which supports the food supply and shelter of wild animals.
Hazard Lands - Areas requiring special management or regulations because of specific risks or characteristics, such as steep slopes subject to erosion, floodplains, wetlands, or watershed lands
Heritage Advisory Committee - A committee established by the Municipality to advise on existing or potential heritage property pursuant to the Heritage Property Act.
Heritage Property Act - Provincial legislation that provides for the identification, designation, preservation and protection of heritage property, including buildings, structures, streetscapes, areas and districts of historic, architectural or cultural value, in both urban and rural areas.
High Capacity Transit - High-speed and high-frequency transit service with a high-quality of passenger amenities.
High Occupancy Vehicles (HOV) - Vehicles that carry two or more persons, including the driver. An HOV includes a transit bus, vanpool, carpool, or any other vehicle that meets the minimum occupancy requirements.
Home Occupation - An accessory use of a dwelling for gainful employment.
Housing Stock - The total supply of dwellings available in a given area or community.
Implementation Strategy - A list of prioritized steps to achieve the intent of all the policies and plans within a Regional Planning theme area, including indication of cost and time required to achieve the steps.
Industrial Park - See Business Park
Infill - see Residential Infilling and Intensification
Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) - A broad range of computer, electronics, advanced sensor, and communications technologies. When integrated into the transportation system infrastructure, these technologies help monitor and manage traffic flow, reduce congestion, and provide information to travellers.
Land use designation - general land use designations as shown on the Generalized Future Land Use Map (Map 2). These designations form the legal framework for achieving the growth management strategy of this Plan. The land use designations are: 1. Urban Settlement Designation; 2.Urban Reserve Designation; 3.Rural Commuter Designation; 4.Rural Resource Designation; and 5.Agricultural Designation.
Land use regulation - Policies in this Plan which will bring about change to land use regulation immediately upon adoption of the MPS are accompanied with appropriate regulation in either the land use by-law or Subdivision Bylaw or by a contract with the Municipality governing land use known as a Development Agreement. These policies are normally recognized by statements such as: "HRM shall through the land use by-law require..."
Low-rise building - A building which is no more than 3 storeys high.
Mass, Massing - The way in which a building’s gross cubic volume is distributed on the site, which parts are higher, lower, wider, or narrower.
Masterplan - The result of a formal process to coordinate the long term development on a large area of land with land owners, community residents, and public agencies.
Mixed-use Compact Community - An area where mutually complimentary uses exist, usually within walking distance of each other (e.g. apartments above a store or residences near office space and employment opportunities).
Modal Split - The proportion of commuters who use a particular type of transportation or mode to get to work (e.g. number of people using private cars verses public transit verses active transportation modes).
Municipal Government Act (MGA) - Provincial legislation that enables municipalities to govern.
Natural Corridor - Naturally vegetated or potentially re-vegetated lands that connect, link or border critical ecological attributes and functions and also provide ecological functions such as habitat, migration routes, hydrological flow, connections or buffering from adjacent impacts. These include such components as woodlands, waterbodies, watercourses, valley lands, riparian zones, and shorelines.
Natural Open Spaces - Lands with scenic and/or environmental features that are intended to be left primarily in an undisturbed and undeveloped state.
Natural Resource - Anything that is provided by nature to meet human needs, such as minerals, air, water, and trees.
Neighbourhood - A group of dwellings usually including other uses such as community centres and businesses which have similar characteristics and which can be identified as distinctive from other groups nearby. While the size of a neighbourhood varies, they are usually several blocks in area.
Neighbourhood Planning Strategy - A secondary planning strategy, pursuant to the Municipal Government Act, which forms part of the Regional Municipal Planning Strategy (MPS). Neighbourhood Planning Strategies include all secondary planning strategies that were in existence at the time of the adoption of the Regional MPS and will include future planning strategies adopted to guide and direct development in greater detail at the neighbourhood level than can be dealt with under the Community Planning Strategy.
Nitrogen Oxides (Nox) - Chemical compounds that are produced mostly by burning fossil fuels.
Noise Exposure Forecast (NEF) - A measure of the level of aircraft noise caused by airplane movements near an airport.
Non-Market Housing - Accommodations which are provided and managed by a government or non-profit agency, and generally made available at below the cost of similar housing provided by the private sector.
Objective - A statement of desired conditions. An objective provides the result or outcome of a goal.
On-site Septic System - A wastewater (sewage) treatment system that uses the natural ability of the soil on a building site to treat waste water from that building.
Open Space - primarily undeveloped and undisturbed areas of land.
Open Space Designation - a land use category to refer to several types of land uses with a wide range of functions. It includes publicly or privately owned, undeveloped land or water, intended to be preserved for agricultural, forest, community form, ecological, historical, public safety, or recreational purposes.
Open Space Network - mainly a network of provincial crown lands as well as lands owned by private companies for forest production and harvesting. It includes regional parks, natural corridors and trail systems that have been developed by government agencies, non-governmental organizations and private land owners.
Open Space Design Development - a form of development designed to conserve a connected system of open space. It begins with the identification of primary and secondary conservation areas to be protected and follows with locating building sites.
Classic Model - Developments are designed to achieve connectivity in open space by retaining conservation areas under the single ownership of a condominium corporation or HRM.
Hybrid Model - where environmental conditions make the Classic Model not feasible, the entire parcel, with the exception of roads and parkland, may be subdivided into individual, privately-owned lots. Maximum building site disturbance areas and maximum road development standards may be established for these areas.
Opportunity Sites - Vacant or under-used properties which could be redeveloped for a higher or more appropriate use.
Overlay - Refers to additional conditions or characteristics which can be mapped that are applied on top of those which apply to a parcel of land. An overlay zone usually relates to a different aspect of development than the underlying zone and sometimes covers more than one underlying zone.
Park Classification System - describes the function, design features and the number of households served by park type. Municipally owned parks include Neighbourhood Parks, Community Parks and District Parks. Regional Parks include provincially and federally owned parks.
Park & Ride Lot - A specially designated are where drivers park their cars and continue their trip on public transit or other organized transportation to their final destination.
Pedestrian-Oriented Development - Development designed to accommodate pedestrians by ensuring travel origins and destinations are within reasonable walking distance of each other, and where the design of the development encourages people to walk.
Performance-based Zoning - A regulatory climate in which the end results (the "performance") are mandated rather than the means to achieve them.
Permit Incentive/Bonus Zoning - under the Municipal Government Act municipal governments in Nova Scotia can provide incentive or bonus zoning that relaxes one set of requirements if an applicant exceeds in other requirements or undertakes action in the public interest. It is a tool can be considered through the secondary planning process for heritage protection and to support affordable housing development or renovation.
Policy - A statement of intent.
Principle - A statement of philosophy regarding the various sectors of the regional plan, such as environment, transportation, settlement, and the economy. Principles guide goals and objectives.
Profile (building) - Different from building scale or building massing, a building’s profile refers to its cross-sectional shape or, put another way, its shape upon the horizon. A building’s profile would be examined in relation to the profiles of other buildings in its immediate and general vicinity.
Proportion - The relationship of two or more dimensions such as the ratio of width to height of a door or window, or of a building.
Public Transportation - Transportation by bus, rail, or other conveyance, either publicly or privately owned, that provides to the public general or special service on a regular and continuing basis.
Queue-jumping - The ability of transit vehicles to get priority to move through areas of traffic congestion.
Residential Care Facilities - private, public and non-profit residential living arrangements that may provide meals, housekeeping, transportation, individualized personal care and health services for people who require assistance with activities of daily living as defined in the NS Homes for Special Care Act.
Residential Infilling and Intensification - The process of adding new dwellings to a neighbourhood by building on vacant lots, or redeveloping existing housing or other buildings.
Resource Production - The process of using a resource such as minerals, forests or agricultural land to create a product such as aggregate, lumber or crops
Riparian - Referring to any watercourse or body of water.
Road classification - Roads are classified according to their primary function, typically based upon vehicular traffic speeds and volumes (refer to Map 8, Road Hierarchy Classification). This classification system will replace the existing ones which predate amalgamation. The roads are described as arterial , major collector, collector and local and will be further defined within the Transportation Master Plan.
Saltmarsh - A community of organisms dominated by plants that are tolerant of wet, saline (salty) soils; generally found in low-lying coastal habitats which are periodically wet.
Scale (building) - The size of a building relative to another building or the size of one building’s elements relative another building’s elements.
Scale (human) - Refers to a range of building details from small (masonry units, doorknobs, window muntins, etc.) to medium (doors, windows, awnings, balconies, railings, signs, etc.) to large (expression of floor lines, expression of structural columns, cornice lines, etc.).
Secondary Planning Strategy - The three levels of plans will be called the Regional MPS, Community Planning Strategies (previously called Municipal Planning Strategies) and Neighbourhood Planning Strategies (previously called Secondary Planning Strategies). Collectively, Community Planning Strategies and Neighbourhood Planning Strategies will be called Secondary Planning Strategies.
Secondary Unit - Refers to the concept of adding an additional dwelling unit to an otherwise single-unit house. Secondary units are usually incorporated into the main house, such as a basement or third floor apartment subject to applicable permit conditions.
Service Area Boundary - The limit of an area of HRM to which the municipality has committed to extend piped water and sewer lines. There are some 'water-serviced' areas that have piped water only.
Serviced Development - Lots or buildings that have a piped water supply and sewer.
Shared Septic System (or Cluster Systems) - A wastewater treatment system that combines wastewater from several adjacent buildings form treatment in a common land-based treatment system.
Single-occupancy vehicle (SOV) - A motorized vehicle carrying only the driver.
Sprawl - Generally unplanned, scattered development characterized by low density, haphazard, and disorganized settlement patterns and by being inefficient to service.
Stormwater Runoff - Surface water collecting and draining on land immediately after a rainfall.
Sustainable - Using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged.
Telecommuting - Using telecommunications, such as telephone and internet, to work, shop or learn from home or other locations instead of at an organization's premises.
Traffic Calming - The combination of mainly physical measures that reduce the negative effects of motor vehicle use, alter driver behaviour and improve conditions for non-motorized street users. (Institute of Traffic Engineers, Subcommittee on Traffic calming)
Transit Oriented Development (TOD) - A mix of residential, retail, and office uses with a supporting network of roads, bicycle ways, and pedestrian ways focussed around a major transit stop designed to support a high level of transit use.
Transportation Demand Management (TDM) or Transportation System Management (TSM) - A strategy to reduce auto trips, provide travel alternatives and improve the efficiency, safety and capacity of the existing transportation network. While TDM generally relates to changing behaviour and TSM relates to facility changes, both are referred to as TDM.
Universal Design - A strategy to ensure access to public facilities is available to all people regardless of their ability or mobility.
Unserviced Development - Lots or buildings that rely on wells for their water supply, on septic tanks and septic fields for sewer disposal, or both.
Urban Reserve Designation - defines areas abutting the Urban Settlement Designation which could be serviced with central services beyond the 25 year time horizon of the Regional Plan to ensure the Municipality has a long-term supply of land which can be serviced.
Urban Service Area - areas (designated in the Subdivision Bylaw) within the Urban Settlement Designation and the Harbour Designation where municipal wastewater and water distribution systems are to be provided.
Urban Settlement Designation - defines those areas where serviced urban forms of development will occur throughout the next 25 years.
View Plane - An unobstructed line of sight that allows a viewer to see a particular landform, building or landscape.
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) - Carbon-containing gases and vapours such as gasoline fumes and solvents.
Watercourse - Any lake, wetland, river, stream, ocean or other body of water.
Water Service Areas - existing developments serviced with a water distribution system and on-site sewage disposal systems. Additional areas may be considered subject to certain criteria and approval os a wastewater management plan.
Watershed - The area of land within which all water drains into common outlet into a larger body of water. Sub-watersheds are smaller portions of a watershed each of which drain to a common point within the larger watershed.
Watershed or sub-watershed studies - studies that shall inform comprehensive secondary planning processes concerning natural watercourses. These studies shall determine the carrying capacity of the watersheds to meet the water quality objectives which shall be adopted following the completion of the studies.
Wetland - Lands commonly referred to as marshes, swamps, fens, bogs and shallow water areas that are saturated with water for a large part of the year. These lands exhibit plant and animal life adapted to a wet environment.
Wildland/Urban Interface (WUI) - Any area where combustible woodland is found adjacent to homes and other buildings.
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