While they are certainly present in large numbers it isn't about nimbys. Peggy C. is the perfect example of a nimby exploiting environmental issues for her narrow-minded anti-development agenda. She claims every tall building downtown is bad for the climate, but doesn't mention anything about reduced car use, efficient provision of infrastructure let alone mention anything about suburban development.
There's a whole field centered on studying ecosystem services that one could exhaust their day talking about, which farmland seldomly provides. I don't know whether the city values natural areas for stormwater management, carbon offsets, biodiversity or another reason but it is for the public benefit. You are likely to see this point raised more often in the future, especially surrounding the climate change targets and last week's federal pledge to protect 30% of species. Just because a rural area isn't farmland doesn't mean it's useless land. I know this may sound pretty wishy-washy, but it's the current national direction and necessary in order to meet goals agreed upon internationally. If this incremental change is only pushing problems onto future generations, you call it complacency. The benefits of incremental change are lost if the justifications for change remain the same. Nova Scotia isn't China where a new district sprouts out of the ground overnight, but that doesn't mean we can't plan for what the future looks like and get it right the first time. A good plan is one that can change and adapt to the circumstance.
Development-specific requirements are already present in rural areas of HRM but they are complimentary to nature reserves for reasons mentioned above. It's hard to justify Hammonds-Plains style development in this day and age. That's not even mentioning the efficient use of infrastructure. Urban containment could perhaps push development out to less ideal areas such as Enfield, but if they were served by dedicated ROW transit such as the cancelled commuter rail it would be less of an issue especially when clustered around the station.
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Haligonian in exile.
Last edited by Good Baklava; Oct 9, 2020 at 2:27 AM.
Reason: Typo
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