Lawrencetown Event

Last night, I attended the Plannapolis meeting at the Lawrencetown Fire Hall, hosted by Annapolis County and by Stantec.

Attendance was excellent, with over seventy community members. This was my second meeting, as I also attended the one in Centrelea.

What did I learn?
What questions remain?

The format was similar between Centrelea and Lawrencetown. The only difference was the attendance of Stantec Senior Planner, John Heseltine.

My impression was that the municipal planners would be responsible for the six coloured areas on the map and Stantec would look after the rest of the county. Coloured areas include Cornwallis, Habitation, Upper Clements Park, East End, Bridgetown and Water Supply areas. Also on the map was a large area of South Mountain designated as a ’wind resource’.

It was a lively session, with many perspectives from the agricultural community. At one level, it is positive that the province has determined there is a need for a review of municipal planning. On another level, it does beg the question, what has happened over the last twenty-plus years.

A long time ago, there were identifiable planning staff. There was a vibrant planning program at COGS. Certainly, I can recall Nick Lasch, Phil Hore, Mike Donnelly and, more recently, Ed Symons.

Fundamental to the planning process is understanding and mapping the land use. This includes agriculture, forestry and other resources. There was a time when GIS technology was used to provide this baseline information. Is that still the case today?

In Annapolis County, what is the separation between lands managed by the province, (e.g. crown lands) and those managed by the county? Within the county, why is Bridgetown a separate entity, but not Middleton, Annapolis Royal etc? I think the answer, was that Bridgetown found itself in financial difficulty. Should that impact the planning process?

Is the situation in Annapolis County similar or different from Kings County or Queens County? Are there province-wide standards for planning? If you do not know the resource, where and how much, how can you plan?

There should be sufficient residual resources at COGS/AGRG to develop a current county-wide map of land uses. Or does that infringe on the rights of citizens and communities? or COGS?

The citizens have shown initiative and direction with MapAnnapolis, perhaps a somewhat similar approach could be applied to Plannapolis.

Acknowledgements

These are the personal view of a long time, Annapolis County resident, on and off, since 1980. They have been influenced by students and colleagues at both COGS and AGRG. Edward added the graphics. For more details on the current process, check the Plannapolis website.

Postscript

I wonder whether the reaction to ’resource planning’ is a characteristic of rural Nova Scotia. Edward tells me that Beavercreek Winery has been sold, presumably, with the Tavern too. Hope new owners will maintain their investment.

I share with you the large Horse Chestnut tree across the road.