When Tantramar finally gets around to reviewing, updating, and consolidating its municipal plans, there could be a new set of province-wide principles to follow.

At the end of June, the province released draft Statements of Public Interest to help steer municipalities when creating and amending their community plans. Brand new Local Government Minister Glen Savoie says the new statements will help accomplish, ”consistent standards for land-use planning to be effective in the province.” A feedback period on the statements ends this Friday.

The draft statements cover five topics: settlement patterns, agriculture, climate change, flood and natural hazard areas, and natural resources. (Scroll down to read the statements, or find the draft in PDF form here.) The document reads like a sort of value system for municipal planning, though an unprioritized one, including things like development of natural resources and environmental protection, without guidance on what should take precedence.

The New Brunswick Association of Planners has been advocating for New Brunswick to adopt Statements of Public Interest, or SPIs, for over ten years now, according to president Andrew Smith.

“New Brunswick is one of the last provinces in Canada to implement SPIs,” says Smith via email. “Although the proposed [statements] are generalized and aspirational in nature, they set out the initial basis for this much needed provincial policy framework for New Brunswick,” he writes.

But politics professor and former municipal councillor Geoff Martin sees the potential for the vagueness of the proposed SPIs to result in an uneven implementation of the principles. The language of the documents seems, “kind of pleasant and enlightened, though perhaps a bit vague and non committal,” says Martin. “But then there’s the question of how will it be implemented? It really depends on what people are in decision-making positions, and how will they potentially use this?”

Martin points to the example of the statement on settlement patterns, which calls for municipal plans to “minimize impacts on the environment, and support vibrant rural and urban economies.” Those two values can be contradictory and compete with each other, says Martin. “Environmental protection can work together with economic development, but if your dominant idea of economic development is environmentally destructive, then those things are in conflict with each other. So when you’ve got these competing values that are presented and the regulation is not clear… What is the dominant value here?”

It’s possible, says Martin, that SPIs could be used to undermine the authority of local councils, especially “activist” municipalities that might insist, say, on minimizing impacts on the environment instead of prioritizing a proposed development. A planning appeal board could interpret the priorities differently, and overturn council decisions based on that different interpretation. “Is this going to empower or disempower municipal governments?” wonders Martin.

The SPIs, if incorporated into the province’s Community Planning Act, will be in effect when Tantramar reviews and consolidates its municipal plan. Although the Sackville plan was due for review in 2020, the pandemic and municipal reform put the process on hold. Now the task is much bigger, involving the former town, the former village of Dorchester, and all the surround former local service districts.

Draft Statements of Public Interest

Statement of public interest on settlement patterns

3(1) With respect to settlement patterns, it is a public interest and public priority to promote settlement patterns that
(a) contribute to the well-being of the residents of the Province,
(b) minimize impacts on the environment, and
(c) support vibrant rural and urban economies.

3(2) The following policies are established with respect to settlement patterns:
(a) promote efficient development and land use patterns that are in the best interests of the Province, local governments and residents of the Province in the long-term;
(b) promote a range of housing options such as size, type, density and design throughout communities;
(c) support the provision of a range of affordable housing options throughout communities;
(d) avoid development and land use patterns that may cause environmental or health and safety issues;
(e) with respect to development that occurs in a community with existing or planned public infrastructure and services, promote development in locations where the public infrastructure and services are or are planned to be available;
(f) with respect to development that occurs in a community with no existing or planned public infrastructure or services, promote development in locations with previously constructed and actively maintained roads;
(g) promote a range of transportation options, including regional and active transportation;
(h) promote the use of green infrastructure, including climate resilient lands; and
(i) promote development in downtown areas and urban cores through increased density, infill and brownfield development.

Statement of public interest on agriculture

4(1) With respect to agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture, it is a public interest and public priority to promote the agriculture, fishery and aquaculture sectors and the production of food in the Province.
4(2) The following policies are established with respect to agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture:
(a) identify prime agricultural areas and prioritize them for agricultural uses and other compatible uses;
(b) identify current and future areas for fishery use and aquaculture use and prioritize them for those uses and other compatible uses; and
(c) consider set-backs, including reciprocal set-backs if appropriate, between areas with an agricultural use, fishery use or aquaculture use and areas used for incompatible purposes.

Statement of public interest on climate change

5(1) With respect to climate change, it is a public interest and public priority to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and engage in processes of climate change adaptation.
5(2) The following policies are established with respect to climate change:
(a) promote energy conservation and efficiency, improved air quality, greenhouse gas emission reductions and removals and climate change adaptation through development and land use patterns; and
(b) consider how the siting and design of infrastructure can improve air quality and energy conservation and efficiency, minimize the health and public safety impacts of climate
change and increase climate resiliency.

Statement of public interest on flood and natural hazard areas

6(1) With respect to flood and natural hazard areas, it is a public interest and public priority to manage development in these areas to increase health and safety and limit social, environmental and economic costs to the Province, local governments and residents of the Province.
6(2) The following policies are established with respect to flood and natural hazard areas:
(a) identify flood and natural hazard areas using provincial flood hazard mapping, provincial erosion mapping and other resources;
(b) promote land use and development in areas other than flood and natural hazard areas;
(c) promote land use and development that are not expected to increase the impacts on safety and costs associated with flooding and natural hazards; and
(d) promote land use and development that incorporate mitigation measures with respect to flooding and natural hazards or that are appropriate for areas subject to natural hazards.

Statement of public interest on natural resources

7(1) With respect to natural resource development areas and environmentally sensitive areas, it is a public interest and public priority to protect these areas for present and future
generations while fostering a more consistent and predictable regulatory environment.
7(2) The following policies are established with respect to natural resource development areas and environmentally sensitive areas:
(a) identify natural resource development areas and environmentally sensitive areas;
(b) prioritize natural resource development areas for natural resource extraction and development;
(c) prioritize environmentally sensitive areas for conservation and protection; and
(d) consider set-backs, including reciprocal set-backs if appropriate, between natural resource development areas or environmentally sensitive areas and areas used for incompatible purposes.