The Coastal Planning Support Program provides eligible coastal municipalities with a defined amount of approved coastal planning consulting services delivered by preselected subcontracted consultants.

Funding of $1 million for the Coastal Planning Support Program is provided by the Government of Nova Scotia under The Future of Nova Scotia's Coastline: A plan to protect people, homes and nature from climate change and administered by the Department of Environment and Climate Change (ECC).

The program is designed to help municipalities prepare for the future of Nova Scotia's coastline by supporting the development of coastal protection plans and bylaws that strengthen local resilience.

Eligible Consulting Services:

The program will approve consulting services in three areas:

1. Education, Awareness and Tools

• Support municipalities in understanding and adopting example text for planning strategies and bylaws
• Equip municipalities with knowledge and information about example bylaw text
• Support community engagement
• Facilitate collaboration between municipalities
• Provide tools to enable consideration of coastal erosion in bylaw adoption

2. Adopting Example Text into Municipal Planning Strategies and Bylaws

• Provide support (including technical) to tailor example planning strategy and bylaw text for specific municipal circumstances
• Develop a plain language guide explaining how to determine the municipality's risk profile, the coastal hazards to be addressed, the different climate data sources, and how to select a climate change projection to match the hazards and risk profile of the municipality
• Support municipalities in navigating and interpreting coastal and climate data
• Assist in developing horizontal and vertical setbacks from the coast for safe development
• Offer decision-making support for risk management
• Create step-by-step guides and checklists for the bylaw development process
• Support coordinated action by municipalities

3. Implementation and Public Communication

• Facilitate knowledge sharing between municipalities through case studies and best practices
• Support public meetings to inform and engage community stakeholders
• Develop communication materials to support implementation
• Provide guidance on addressing public concerns and building community support
• Support coordinated implementation across municipalities

How the Program Works:

1. Municipality applies and receives approval
2. Municipality signs Memorandum of Understanding with NSFM
3. Municipality selects consultant from preselected list
4. Consultant confirms scope of work and maximum payment with NSFM
5. Consultant completes services
6. NSFM confirms completion with municipality and pays consultant directly

Review Priority:

Applications from small and medium municipalities (as defined by Statistics Canada) will be reviewed first.