NLR 3/01 - Development Regulations under the Urban and Rural Planning Act, 2000

NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR REGULATION 3/01 Development Regulations under the Urban and Rural Planning Act, 2000 (Filed January 2, 2001 ) Under the authority of section 36 of the Urban and Rural Planning Act , 2000, I make the following regulations. Dated at St. Johns , January 2, 2001 . Joan Marie Aylward Minister of Municipal and Provincial Affairs REGULATIONS Analysis 1. Short title 2. Definitions 3. Application 4. Interpretation 5. Notice of right to appeal 6. Appeal requirements 7. Appeal registration 8. Development prohibited 9. Hearing notice and meetings 10. Hearing of evidence 11. Board decision 12. Variances 13. Notice of variance 14. Residential non conformity 15. Notice and hearings on change of use 16. Non-conformance with standards 17. Discontinuance of non-conforming use 18. Delegation of powers 19. Commencement Short title 1. These regulations may be cited as the Development Regulations. Back to Top Definitions 2. In these regulations, (a) "Act", unless the context indicate otherwise, means the Urban and Rural Planning Act, 2000 ; (b) "applicant" means a person who has applied to an authority for an approval or permit to carry out a development; (c) "authority" means a council, authorized administrator or regional authority; and (d) "development regulations" means these regulations and regulations and by-laws respecting development that have been enacted by the relevant authority. Back to Top Application 3. (1) These regulations shall be included in the development regulations of an authority and shall apply to all planning areas. (2) Where there is a conflict between these regulations and development regulations or other regulations of an authority, these regulations shall apply. (3) Where another Act of the province provides a right of appeal to the board, these regulations shall apply to that appeal. Back to Top Interpretation 4. (1) In development regulations and other regulations made with respect to a planning area the following terms shall have the meanings indicated in this section (a) "access" means a way used or intended to be used by vehicles, pedestrians or animals in order to go from a street to adjacent or nearby land or to go from that land to the street; (b) "accessory building" includes (i) a detached subordinate building not used as a dwelling, located on the same lot as the main building to which it is an accessory and which has a use that is customarily incidental or complementary to the main use of the building or land, (ii) for residential uses, domestic garages, carports, ramps, sheds, swimming pools, greenhouses, cold frames, fuel sheds, vegetables storage cellars, shelters for domestic pets or radio and television antennae, (iii) for commercial uses, workshops or garages, and (iv) for industrial uses, garages, offices, raised ramps and docks; (c) "accessory use" means a use that is subsidiary to a permitted or discretionary use and that is customarily expected to occur with the permitted or discretionary use; (d) "building height" means the vertical distance, measured in metres from the established grade to the (i) highest point of the roof surface of a flat roof, (ii) deck line of a mansard roof, and (iii) mean height level between the eave and the ridge of a gable, hip or gambrel roof, and in any case, a building height shall not include mechanical structure, smokestacks, steeples and purely ornamental structures above a roof; (e) "building line" means a line established by an authority that runs parallel to a street line and is set at the closest point to a street that a building may be placed; (f) "discretionary use" means a use that is listed within the discretionary use classes established in the use zone tables of an authoritys development regulations; (g) "established grade" means, (i) where used in reference to a building, the average elevation of the finished surface of the ground where it meets the exterior or the front of that building exclusive of any artificial embankment or entrenchment, or (ii) where used in reference to a structure that is not a building, the average elevation of the finished grade of the ground immediately surrounding the structure, exclusive of any artificial embankment or entrenchment; (h) "floor area" means the total area of all floors in a building measured to the outside face of exterior walls; (i) "frontage" means the horizontal distance between side lot lines measured at the building line; (j) "lot" means a plot, tract or parcel of land which can be considered as a unit of land for a particular use or building; (k) "lot area" means the total horizontal area within the lines of the lot; (l) "lot coverage" means the combined area of all building on a lot measured at the level of the lowest floor above the established grade and expressed as a percentage of the total area of the lot; (m) "non-conforming use" means a legally existing use that is not .listed as a permitted or discretionary use for the use zone in which it is located or which does not meet the development standards for that use zone; (n) "owner" means a person or an organization of persons owning or having the legal right to use the land under consideration; (o) "permitted use" means a use that is listed within the permitted use classes set out in the use zone tables of an authoritys development regulations; (p) "prohibited use" means a use that is not listed in a use zone within the permitted use classes or discretionary use classes or a use that an authority specifies as not permitted within a use zone; (q) "sign" means a word, letter, model, placard, board, device or representation, whether illuminated or not, in the nature of or employed wholly or in part for the purpose of advertisement, announcement or direction and excludes those things employed wholly as a memorial, advertisements of local government, utilities and boarding or similar structures used for the display of advertisements; (r) "rear yard depth" means the distance between the rear lot line and the rear wall of the main building on a lot; (s) "side yard depth" means the distance between the side lot line and the nearest side wall of a building on the lot; (t) "street" means a street, road, highway or other way designed for the passage of vehicles and pedestrians and which is accessible by fire department and other emergency vehicles; (u) "street line" means the edge of a street reservation as defined by the authority having jurisdiction; (v) "use" means a building or activity situated on a lot or a development permitted on a lot; (w) "use zone" or "zone" means an area of land including buildings and water designated on the zoning map to which the uses, standards and conditions of a particular use zone table apply; (x) "variance" means a departure, to a maximum of 10% from the yard, area, lot coverage, setback, size, height, frontage or any other numeric requirement of the applicable Use Zone Table of the authoritys regulations; and (y) "zoning map" means the map or maps attached to and forming a part of the authoritys regulations. (2) An authority may, in its discretion, determine the uses that may or may not be developed in a use zone and those uses shall be listed in the authoritys regulations as discretionary, permitted or prohibited uses for that area. Back to Top Notice of right to appeal 5. Where an authority makes a decision that may be appealed under section 42 of the Act, that authority shall, in writing, at the time of making that decision, notify the person to whom the decision applies of the (a) persons right to appeal the decision to the board; (b) time by which an appeal is to be made; (c) right of other interested persons to appeal the decision; and (d) manner of making an appeal and the address for the filing of the appeal. Back to Top Appeal requirements 6. (1) The secretary of the board at the Department of Municipal and Provincial Affairs, Main Floor, Confederation Building (West Block), P.O. Box 8700, St. Johns, Nfld., A1B 4J6 is the secretary to all boards in the province and an appeal filed with that secretary within the time period referred to in subsection 42(4) of the Act shall be considered to have been filed with the appropriate board. (2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), where the City of Corner Brook , City of Mount Pearl or City of St. Johns appoints an appeal board under subsection 40(2) of the Act, an appeal shall be filed with the secretary of that appointed board. (3) The fee required under section 44 of the Act shall be paid to the board that hears the decision being appealed by filing it with the secretary referred to in subsection (1) or (2) within the 14 days referred to in subsection 42(4) of the Act. (4) The board that hears the decision being appealed shall, subject to subsection 44(3) of the Act, retain the fee paid to the board. (5) Where an appeal of a decision and the required fee is not received by a board in accordance with this section and Part VI of the Act, the right to appeal that decision shall be considered to have been forfeited. Back to Top Appeal registration 7. (1) Upon receipt of an appeal and fee as required under the Act and these regulations, the secretary of the board as referred to in subsections 6(1) and (2), shall immediately register the appeal. (2) Where an appeal has been registered the secretary of the board shall notify the appropriate authority of the appeal and shall provide to the authority a copy of the appeal and the documentation related to the appeal. (3) Where an authority has been notified of an appeal that authority shall forward to the appropriate board a copy of the application being appealed, all correspondence, council minutes, plans and other relevant information relating to the appeal including the names and addresses of the applicant and other interested persons of whom the authority has knowledge. (4) Upon receipt of the information under subsection (3), the secretary of the board shall publish in a newspaper circulated in the area of the appropriate authority, a notice that the appeal has been registered. (5) A notice published under subsection (4) shall be published not fewer than 2 weeks before the date upon which the appeal is to be heard by the board. Back to Top Development prohibited 8. (1) Immediately upon notice of the registration of an appeal the appropriate authority shall ensure that any development upon the property that is the subject of the appeal ceases. (2) Sections 102 and 104 of the Act apply to an authority acting under subsection (1). (3) Upon receipt of a notification of the registration of an appeal with respect to an order under section 102 of the Act, an authority shall not carry out work related to the matter being appealed. Back to Top Hearing notice and meetings 9. (1) A board shall notify the appellant, applicant, authority and other persons affected by the subject of an appeal of the date, time and place for the appeal not fewer than 7 days before the date scheduled for the hearing of the appeal. (2) A board may meet as often as is necessary to conduct its work in an expeditious manner. Back to Top Hearing of evidence 10. (1) A board shall meet at a place within the area under its jurisdiction and the appellant and other persons notified under subsection 9(1) or their representative may appear before the board and make representations with respect to the matter being appealed. (2) A board shall hear an appeal in accordance with section 43 of the Act and these regulations. (3) A written report submitted under subsection 43(2) of the Act respecting a visit to and viewing of a property shall be considered to have been provided in the same manner as evidence directly provided at the hearing of the board. (4) In the conduct of an appeal hearing, the board is not bound by the rules of evidence. Back to Top Board decision 11. A decision of the board must comply with the plan, scheme or development regulations that apply to the matter that has been appealed to that board. Back to Top Variances 12. (1) Where an approval or permit cannot be given by an authority because a proposed development does not comply with development standards set out in development regulations, an authority may, in its discretion, vary the applicable development standards to a maximum of 10% if, in the authoritys opinion, compliance with the development standards would prejudice the proper development of the land, building or structure in question or would be contrary to public interest. (2) An authority shall not allow a variance from development standards set out in development regulations if that variance, when considered together with other variances made or to be made with respect to the same land, building or structure, would have a cumulative effect that is greater than a 10% variance even though the individual variances are separately no more than 10%. (3) An authority shall not permit a variance from development standards where the proposed development would increase the non conformity of an existing development. Back to Top Notice of variance 13. Where an authority is to consider a proposed variance, that authority shall give written notice of the proposed variance from development standards to all persons whose land is in the immediate vicinity of the land that is the subject of the variance. Back to Top Residential non conformity 14. A residential building or structure referred to in paragraph 108(3)(g) of the Act must, where being repaired or rebuilt, be repaired or rebuilt in accordance with the plan and development regulations applicable to that building or structure. Back to Top Notice and hearings on change of use 15. Where considering a non conforming building, structure or development under paragraph 108(3)(d) of the Act and before making a decision to vary an existing use of that non-conforming building, structure or development, an authority, at the applicants expense, shall publish a notice in a newspaper circulating in the area or by other means give public notice of an application to vary the existing use of a non-conforming building, structure or development and shall consider any representations or submissions received in response to that advertisement. Back to Top Non-conformance with standards 16. Where a building, structure or development does not meet the development standards included in development regulations, the building, structure or development shall not be expanded if the expansion would increase the non-conformity and an expansion must comply with the development standards applicable to that building, structure or development. Back to Top Discontinuance of non-conforming use 17. An authority may make development regulations providing for a greater period of time than is provided under subsection 108(2) of the Act with respect to the time by which a discontinued non-conforming use may resume operation. Back to Top Delegation of powers 18. An authority shall, where designating employees to whom a power is to be delegated under subsection 109(3) of the Act, make that designation in writing. Back to Top Commencement 19. These regulations shall be considered to have come into force on January 1, 2001 . ©Earl G. Tucker, Queen's Printer