Inverness Growth Management Strategy

The last decade brought tremendous change for the approximately 1,300 residents of the Community of Inverness on the western shore of Cape Breton Island. The development of two world-class golf courses spurred an extraordinary interest in the former mining town. The transformation brought enormous opportunity to the community, as visitors from around the globe arrive to discover the rich natural and cultural assets of the Inverness area. Surrounded by a rural municipality that experienced a declining population, the community benefited from a resurgence of economic activity and stabilized its population of year-round residents.

The Municipal Planning Strategy and its subordinate Land Use By-law primarily set development rules for properties and discuss aspirational goals for the development of the community, but these documents provide limited guidance on how the municipality could identify and stage capital investment projects or when municipal services should be extended.

The purpose of this Growth Management Strategy is therefore to identify a preferred growth scenario for the community as a whole. This vision will be translated into capital investment policy recommendations, guidance on utilization of public lands, and eventually complemented by updated zoning rules of the Land Use By-law.

Public consultations within the community identified, Culture and Leisure, Housing, Community Development, Infrastructure, Transportation, and Governance as key community concerns. The preparation of the final Growth Management Strategy document is still underway.