News

March 2026 Newsletter

4 March 2026

Thank you for your continued interest in the Halifax Regional Municipality’s Suburban Plan!

February was another busy month for engagement on the Halifax Regional Municipality’s Suburban Plan! This issue of the newsletter is to provide an update on what we have heard so far, introduce our new online resources, and share upcoming opportunities to participate in the Suburban Planning process. Events and activities for this first phase of public engagement will be running until June 2026.

February Engagement Events

In February we held our final four kickoff open houses. Thank you to everyone for your patience as we continued to navigate the snowstorms! At each event, residents had a chance to learn more about the Suburban Plan, listen to a presentation on the project, provide feedback, and ask questions to planning staff.

Our first stop for February was Sackville at the Sackville Sports Stadium. We heard from 80 community members about the importance of environmental protection and improving the pedestrian experience.

Our second stop was Lakeside at the Lakeside Fire Hall attended by about 30 community members from Timberlea, Lakeside, and Beechville where we heard about the need for safer active transportation options and managing flood risks.

Our third stop was Cole Harbour at Cole Harbour Place where over 30 community members from Cole Harbour, Dartmouth, Lake Loon, and Westphal attended. The discussion was focused on traffic congestion and the increasing demand on municipal services due to growth pressures. Unfortunately, we could not host our evening session that day due to the worsening weather conditions, but we will be back in the area for pop ups and other events soon!

Our final kickoff open house was in Bedford at the Bedford United Church. 30 residents came out to discuss demand on different pieces of infrastructure from increased development and the importance of protecting park space.

Our What We Heard Report, which will be published after Phase 1 of engagement is completed, will provide a full analysis of all engagement feedback collected. Once again, the Suburban Plan team would like to extend our thanks to everyone who was able to take the time to join us at our kickoff open houses. We hope to see everyone again at future engagement events as we continue to develop each community’s vision.

Online Engagement

Online engagement for the Suburban Plan continues to grow! If you weren’t able to make it out to one of our open houses, a recorded version of our kickoff open house presentation is available at the link here. Additional materials from our open houses are also now available online, including community profiles (available at the link here), and fact sheets and info boards (available at the link here).

If you haven’t had a chance to participate in our online engagement, please visit our project website.

Pop-up Engagement Opportunities

The team has started to ‘pop-up’ with a mobile display at community events and spaces to raise awareness about the Suburban Planning process and provide residents a chance to talk to the Suburban Plan team. Have an event or venue in your community where you’d like to see our team? Let us know!

If you’d like to visit us at one of our upcoming pop-up events you can find us at:

Cole Harbour Place Public Library

Date: March 14th

Time: 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Woodlawn Public Library

Date: April 16th

Time: 1:30 – 3:30 p.m.

Fairview Mobile Food Market inside Centennial Arena

Date: April 18th

Time: 9:30 – 11 a.m.

East Dartmouth Community Centre

Date: April 25th

Time: 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Main Street Visioning Workshops

For the next phase of engagement on the Suburban Plan, help shape the future of your suburban main street! We’re looking for community members to provide ideas for the design of buildings and public spaces, types of stores and services, accessibility improvements, and more!

In each workshop, community members will work together to create a unique vision and guiding principles for their local main street area. This workshop is free to attend. While this workshop is open to anyone with an interest in suburban main streets, we strongly encourage those who work, live, own property, or spend a lot of time on their main street to attend. 

What to Expect:

This is a 2-hour workshop. Participants who register are asked to stay for the entire 2 hours.

Each workshop will include presentations and seated group activities at tables throughout the room.

Tables will include photos, maps, modelling blocks, and other materials to spark discussions. A facilitator will support each table.

Participants will be asked to move between the tables.

If you do not want to participate in the full 2-hour workshop, you do not need to register. Feel free to stop by anyway! We will have a small space available with general information about the Suburban Plan and opportunities to provide individual feedback and ideas for your main street.

Workshops will run throughout March and April across our suburban communities. See the event details for each workshop below:

Waverley Road Main Street Visioning Workshop

Date: March 9th

Time: 6-8 p.m.

Location: Fairbanks Centre