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Nova Scotia’s Lunenburg Municipality passes coastal protection regulations

Click to play video: 'NS Environment Minister talks coastal protection'
NS Environment Minister talks coastal protection
RELATED: We check in with Tim Halman, Nova Scotia’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, to respond to concerns from youth about scrapping the Coastal Protection Act. – May 23, 2024

A rural municipality on Nova Scotia’s South Shore has become the first to pass its own coastal protection regulations after the province abandoned its legislation earlier this year.

The Municipality of the District of Lunenburg voted for the measures Tuesday, completing a process that began in April 2023.

In a news release, Mayor Carolyn Bolivar-Getson says the new rules for land use represent council’s “commitment to addressing the challenges of climate change.”

Under the regulations, no new coastal development will be permitted within 30 metres of the top of a bank in order to guard against erosion risk.

As well, new residential structures must be elevated 3.97 metres above the average sea level, and no new development will be permitted within 30 metres of coastal wetlands.

The new regulations will only apply to new structures and additions to existing buildings in the sprawling municipality, which surrounds the towns of Bridgewater, Lunenburg, and Mahone Bay.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 19, 2024.

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