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Last week's speaker was Keenan Johnson. Mr. Johnson spoke to us on the topic "Town Planning: Th Gateway For Development". He explained the the structure of their organization and how they interact with the Ministry of Works and Physical Planning. Town Planning operates separately from the Ministry of Works but work very closely with them.
The types of applications that town planning gets include applications from those looking to build and add on to something they have already built. Town Planning looks at the application after it has gone through the Ministry of Works to see if what is being built is suitable for the property it is going on, they also check boundaries and distances from the road, if the parking is sufficient, if the land is big enough to accommodate what is being built. After approval the application would be sent off to the Department of Environmental Protection and then it would go from there for permit numbers and approvals can be granted. Town Planning is a part of that process with other agencies. Town planning also assists with business licenses when persons want to run home based businesses or are creating new businesses. The agency would determine if the area is suitable for the business and then the approval would be granted or denied after inspections.
Applications for rezoning are also reviewed by The Department of Physical Planning to have the property rezoned from what it is now to what the applicant wants it to be. Some properties have certain restrictions and persons may want to change the zoning of the property. Some areas have also transformed over time which warrants that the property be rezoned. Rezoning is generally not approved unless town planning sees sufficient reason to rezone the property. Mr. Johnson suggests checking the zoning of a property when purchasing. Subdivision and lot severances are also looked at and inspected if persons want to change the layout of properties. It must be determined if the change will have any adverse affect on the area. The difference between a subdivision and lot severance is the amount of lots that one wants to divide the lot into. A subdivision application is much more involved and takes longer.
We also learned about large developments and how the applications are input and inspected. Mr. Johnson provided a lot of interesting information on how town planning works.
