Nova Scotia Zoning Maps

One of the challenges of buying land in Nova Scotia is determining what the potential uses of that land may be. Each municipality maintains their own zoning maps and land use bylaws. Nova Scotia zoning codes, bylaws and maps are useful to pinpoint a particular plot of land and determine its what type of zone it is in. With that established, the land use bylaw contains the details on the permitted and restricted uses (e.g. agriculture, commercial, residential, etc.) of each particular zone. Sounds like fun, right?

Well, here’s some good news. In this post, we’ve created the first all-in-one reference for Nova Scotia zoning maps and land use bylaws. We THINK we’ve found them all, but if something is missing or inaccurate please let us know. Of course, zoning is important to consider when buying land, but so are 1,000 other things. Be sure to check out our guide to buying land in Nova Scotia. 

So, without further ado, here is our list of Nova Scotia zoning maps, updated for 2024:

Cape Breton Zoning Map – CBRM zoning map

Cape Breton Land Zoning Map – CBRM zoning map: https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=34b5e62a2a7f4904bde0b56a9e27df05

Cape Breton Land Use Bylaw – CBRM land use bylaw: https://www.cbrm.ns.ca/municipal-planning.html

Halifax Zoning Map – HRM zoning map

Halifax Land Zoning Maps – HRM zoning map:  https://www.halifax.ca/about-halifax/regional-community-planning/community-plan-areas/halifax-plan-area

Halifax Land Use Bylaws: There are 22 different land use bylaws for Halifax Regional Municipality. You can find them all here.  

Queens County Zoning Map – Queens NS zoning map

Region of Queens Municipality land zoning maps and land use bylaws: https://www.regionofqueens.com/municipal-services/planning/land-use-planning

East Hants Zoning Map – East Hants ns zoning map

East Hants land zoning map: https://www.easthants.ca/government/municipal-departments/planning-development/interactive-east-hants/

East Hants land use Bylaw: https://www.easthants.ca/wp-content/uploads/easthants-occ/agendas/40094/attachments/23201/PAC_Plan%20Update_LUB_March2023.pdf

West Hants Zoning Map – West Hants ns zoning map

West Hants land zoning map: https://www.westhants.ca/planning/planning-documents/3122-mps-map-1-generalized-future-land-use-map/file.html See additional documents here: https://www.westhants.ca/planning-documents.html

West Hants land use Bylaw: https://www.westhants.ca/planning-documents.html

Annapolis County Zoning Map – Annapolis zoning map

Annapolis County land zoning map: https://annapoliscounty.ca/Documents/1EzFolderList/CommunityDev/MunicipalPlanningStrategyLandUseBy-law/AnnapolisCounty/Future%20Land%20Use%20Map.jpg

Annapolis County land use bylaw: https://annapoliscounty.ca/community-development/zoning-development-control/291-municipal-planning-strategies-land-use-bylaws

Antigonish County Zoning Map – Antigonish ns zoning map

Town of Antigonish land use zoning map: https://www.townofantigonish.ca/news/757-toa-zoning-map/file.html

Town of Antigonish land use bylaw: https://www.townofantigonish.ca/departments/planning-building-services/834-town-of-antigonish-lub-final/file.html

Antigonish County land use zoning maps: https://edpc.ca/plan-documents-and-maps/

Antigonish County land use bylaws: https://edpc.ca/plan-documents-and-maps/

Colchester County Zoning Map – Colchester NS zoning map

Colchester County land zoning map: https://www.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/510215b0a4384cbfaf901dac8b25347a

Colchester County land use bylaw: https://colchester.ca/3494-central-colchester-land-use-by-law-chapter-40/file

Cumberland County Zoning Map – Cumberland NS zoning map

Cumberland County land zoning map: https://www.plancumberland.ca/zoning-map

Cumberland County land use bylaw: https://www.plancumberland.ca/documents

Inverness Zoning Map – Inverness NS zoning map

Inverness County land zoning maps: https://edpc.ca/plan-documents-and-maps/

Inverness County land use bylaw: https://edpc.ca/plan-documents-and-maps/

Kings County Zoning Map – Kings County ns zoning map

County of Kings land zoning map: https://www.countyofkings.ca/residents/services/planning/Land-Use-Bylaw

County of Kings land use bylaw: https://www.countyofkings.ca/residents/services/planning/Land-Use-Bylaw

Pictou County Zoning Map – Pictou ns zoning map

Town of Pictou land zoning map: https://www.townofpictou.ca/planning-by-laws-and-documents

Town of Pictou land use bylaw: https://www.townofpictou.ca/planning-by-laws-and-documents

Pictou County land use bylaw: I would expect to find zoning maps and land use bylaws on the municipality website, but I’m having no luck locating them. If someone finds it, please send me a link. 

Richmond County Zoning Map – Richmond ns zoning map

Richmond County land zoning maps: https://edpc.ca/plan-documents-and-maps/

Richmond County land use bylaw: https://edpc.ca/plan-documents-and-maps/

Victoria County Zoning Map – Victoria ns zoning map

Victoria County land zoning maps: https://edpc.ca/plan-documents-and-maps/

Victoria County land use bylaw: https://edpc.ca/plan-documents-and-maps/

Yarmouth Zoning Map – Yarmouth NS zoning map

Yarmouth municipality land use bylaw and zoning maps: https://www.district.yarmouth.ns.ca/index.php/municipal-operations/development-inspection/land-development-zoning

Zoning map and land use bylaw for the town of Yarmouth: https://www.townofyarmouth.ca/departments/planning-development/planning.html

Shelburne County Zoning Map – Shelburne NS zoning map

Shelburne County land zoning map (see page 27) and land use bylaw: https://www.municipalityofshelburne.ca/land-development-zoning/

Lunenburg Zoning Map – Lunenburg ns zoning map

Lunenburg County land zoning map: https://www.modl.ca/zoningmap.html

Lunenburg County land use bylaw: https://www.modl.ca/zoning.html

Digby County Zoning Map – Digby ns zoning map

Digby County zoning map (see page 13) and land use bylaw: https://digbymun.ca/3026-land-use-by-law/file.html

Town of Digby zoning map: https://www.digby.ca/planning-and-development/71-town-of-digby-zoning-map/file.html

Guysborough County Zoning Map – Guysborough ns zoning map

District of Guysborough land zoning map: https://modg.ca/sites/default/files/pdfs/Existing%20Land%20Use%20By-law%20Zoning%20Map.pdf

District of Guysborough land use bylaw: https://modg.ca/sites/default/files/pdfs/DRAFT%20New%20Land%20Use%20By-law.pdf

In Conclusion…

We hope you found the Nova Scotia zoning code you were looking for. We’re continuing to create resources to help people with buying land in Nova Scotia. That includes publishing Nova Scotia vacant land statistics, legislative updates for foreign buyers of vacant land, good (and bad) questions to ask when buying land, and of course, land for sale in Nova Scotia. Are we missing something? Let us know!