Recreation Strategic Plan
The Municipal Recreation & Parks Department developed a Strategic Plan to advance recreation in the Municipality. The Strategic Plan will provide direction outlining goals and priorities for the Recreation Department to work towards achieving.
Municipality’s Recreation Strategic Plan 2019/2021
Integrated Community Sustainability Plan (ICSP)
The creative and resourceful people of the Municipality of the District of Shelburne deeply value their diverse communities, healthy living and quality of life.We enjoy our clean natural environment and sustainable resource economy from ocean to forest.
Our tradition of self reliance partnered with new technologies creates a robust economic climate that welcomes renewable energy and new, sustainable industries. Through cooperation and strong, progressive leadership we build on our rich history to create a vibrant future.
The final version of the ICSP was adopted by Council at the regular Council Meeting on February 22, 2010 and submitted to Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations in March 2010.
Municipal Climate Change Action Plan
Our climate is changing. Scientific understanding of climate change indicates that Canada will experience significant shifts in weather patterns over the span of a single generation, a trend that will most likely continue. Climate changes poses a risk to sensitive coastal ecosystems, coastal infrastructure, low lying properties and areas of rapid coastal erosion. All municipalities in Nova Scotia must complete a Municipal Climate Change Action Plan (MCCAP) as an amendment to the Integrated Community Sustainability Plans adopted in 2010 by the end of 2013. These plans will include strategies and actions for both mitigation of and adaptation to climate change.
Climate change mitigation involves a focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, impacting the cause of climate change in the long term through measures such as energy conservation and renewable energy. Climate change adaptation involves undertaking activities designed to reduce and minimize the harmful consequences of changing climate. The Province has designed a process to help municipalities plan adaptation strategies, which includes vulnerability assessments of infrastructure and also a general assessment of potential economic, social and environmental impacts.
- Potential Impacts of Climate Change on our communities:
- Sea levels in Nova Scotia are expected to rise approximately 1 m by 2100
- Storm surge will happen more frequently because hurricanes and winter storms could happen more often, and be more severe
- High water including storm surge and high tide coinciding could be as much as 7 m higher than current sea level during a storm
- Increased precipitation in the winter months
- Shortages of water in the summer due to higher temperatures and less summer rain
- Increased temperatures leading to less requirement for heating and more requirement for cooling and air conditioning
- Growing season could increase by up to 50 days each year
Climate Change Action Plan 2013
Coastal Management Strategy
In April 2012, the Municipality of the District of Shelburne completed a draft of the Coastal Management Strategy. This Strategy outlines three goals and a series of actions over five years starting with education followed by planning and policy development. The intention of this strategy is to increase awareness in our communities to the interaction between development and the natural environment, as well as reduce vulnerability to extreme weather events and climate change.
Eastern Shelburne County Energy Strategy
Work has been completed on the Eastern Shelburne County Energy Strategy, a joint project with the Town of Lockeport and the Town of Shelburne. Eastern Shelburne County has the potential for both energy efficiency gains and the development of renewable energy from wind, solar, biomass and ocean sources. The Energy Strategy examines these opportunities, provides an assessment on their viability, and provides the municipalities with an approach to taking action on these opportunities in the short, medium and long terms.
Eastern Shelburne County Energy Strategy
Municipal Planning Strategy and Land Use By-Law L-100
As enabled through the Municipal Government Act the purpose of this Municipal Planning Strategy and the accompanying Land Use Bylaw is:
To establish a planning policy and regulatory framework in support of the development and management of wind energy resources within the District of Shelburne.
To this end the goal of this Strategy is:
To promote wind energy development in the District of Shelburne, with a particular focus on enabling community and small scale wind energy, while mitigating potential negative impacts of wind urbines by minimizing risks to public health and safety and the natural environment.