A municipal planning strategy is going to affect residents of Dartmouth and it has many citizens engaged in the Centre Plan process.
“I think it’s part of my duty as a citizen to know what’s going on. I’m paying taxes so I care what the city’s doing with my tax dollars and with the neighbourhoods around me,” says Nancy Bowes, a Dartmouth resident who lives near Oathill Lake.
The plan will update municipal policies and planning strategies that haven’t been revised since the 1970s.
The areas that it includes are Peninsular Halifax and all of Dartmouth within the Circumferential Highway.
READ MORE: First Halifax Centre Plan meeting an opportunity to provide feedback
“We think that there’s a responsibility as a planning department to keep our plans relatively up to date. To make sure that the vision that they state is actually representative of the community who lives here now,” said urban design manager of HRM, Jacob Ritchie.
Dozens of Dartmouth residents gathered at the Mic Mac Rowing Club to discuss ideas with their neighbours and members of the Centre Plan team.
“This is the time where you get to say what’s going to happen. There’s no good complaining about what’s happening in your neighbourhood a year from now that you don’t like,” says Kate Watson, a resident of Dartmouth.
“You should be showing up now to say what you do want.”
Many of the public discussion points revolved around protecting lakes and waterways.
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“I live near Oathill Lake and I love everything about living near the lake and I want that protected,” said Bowes.
The Centre Plan team plans to continue public consultation throughout the summer before they present a draft of the plan to regional council this fall.
A final plan will be presented in December.
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