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. The zoning maps are useful to pinpoint a particular plot of land and determine its zoning. With that established, the land use bylaw contains the details on the permitted and restricted uses 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.
Cape Breton Zoning
Cape Breton Land Zoning Map: https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=34b5e62a2a7f4904bde0b56a9e27df05
Cape Breton Land Use Bylaw: https://www.cbrm.ns.ca/municipal-planning.html
Halifax Zoning
Halifax Land Zoning Maps: https://www.halifax.ca/about-halifax/regional-community-planning/community-plan-areas/halifax-plan-area
Halifax Mainland Land Use Bylaw: https://cdn.halifax.ca/sites/default/files/documents/about-the-city/regional-community-planning/halifaxmainlandlanduseby-law-edition216-eff-22sep15-caserp16-16-toclinked_0.pdf
Queens Zoning
Region of Queens Municipality land zoning maps and land use bylaws: https://www.regionofqueens.com/municipal-services/planning/land-use-planning
Hants Zoning
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/2016/08/LUB-2016-Part-1-Administration.pdf
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/by-laws-and-policies/by-laws/west-hants-by-laws/3471-wh-land-use-by-law-consolidated-november-18-2021/file.html
Annapolis Zoning
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 Zoning
Town of Antigonish land use zoning map: https://www.townofantigonish.ca/news/757-toa-zoning-map/file.html
Antigonish County land use zoning maps: http://www.edpc.ca/plan_docs.htm
Antigonish County land use bylaws: http://www.edpc.ca/plan_docs.htm
Colchester Zoning
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 Zoning
Cumberland County land zoning map: https://www.plancumberland.ca/zoning-map
Cumberland County land use bylaw: https://www.plancumberland.ca/documents
Inverness Zoning
Inverness County land zoning maps: http://www.edpc.ca/plan_docs.htm
Inverness County land use bylaw: http://www.edpc.ca/plan_docs.htm
Kings Zoning
County of Kings land zoning map: https://www.countyofkings.ca/upload/All_Uploads/services/maps/Master%20Map/CountyLUB_map.pdf
County of Kings land use bylaw: https://www.countyofkings.ca/residents/services/planning/lub.aspx
Pictou Zoning
Pictou County land zoning map: https://www.townofpictou.ca/planning/244-land-use-by-law-zoning-map-schedule-a-2/file
Pictou County land use bylaw: https://www.townofpictou.ca/planning-by-laws-and-documents
Richmond Zoning
Richmond County land zoning maps: http://www.edpc.ca/plan_docs.htm
Richmond County land use bylaw: http://www.edpc.ca/plan_docs.htm
Victoria Zoning
Victoria County land zoning maps: http://www.edpc.ca/plan_docs.htm
Victoria County land use bylaw: http://www.edpc.ca/plan_docs.htm
Yarmouth Zoning
Yarmouth County land zoning map and land use bylaw: https://www.townofyarmouth.ca/land-use-by-law-and-zoning-map2.html
Shelburne Zoning
Shelburne County land zoning map (see page 27) and land use bylaw: https://www.municipalityofshelburne.ca/by-laws/377-municipal-planning-strategy-and-land-use-by-law-l-101/file.html
Lunenburg Zoning
Lunenburg County land zoning map: https://www.modl.ca/zoningmap.html
Lunenburg County land use bylaw: https://www.modl.ca/zoning.html
Digby Zoning
Digby County zoning map (see page 13) and land use bylaw: https://digbymun.ca/1078-regulation-of-wind-turbine-development-land-use-by-law-july-2018/file.html
Guysborough Zoning
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/LAND%20USE%20BYLAW.pdf