This guide provides a general overview of the New Brunswick Community Planning Act (CPA). It provides a summary of the Act with respect to land use planning and development, and introduces the various parts of the land use planning tools and processes.
The purpose of the Community Planning Act is to enable the Province, local governments, regional service commissions, specific individuals or other entities to create very specific planning documents and tools, and to carry out actions to ensure that developments comply with the regulations, by-laws, permits and approvals. The Community Planning Act:
- enables the development of, and changes to be made to, planning documents and tools;
- outlines the process that must be followed in order to create and adopt new by-laws and regulations; and
- provides authority to individuals or organizations or committees to carry out specific actions related to land use planning and development.
This guide is for information purposes only, and is not an authoritative interpretation of the Community Planning Act. In the event of any inconsistency between this document and the Local Government Act or its regulations, the Community Planning Act or its regulations will prevail.
This document is not and should not be construed as legal advice. A lawyer should be consulted on questions about the application or interpretation of the laws of New Brunswick as they relate to the subject matter of this document. Other agencies, such as provincial departments, the federal government, and municipalities, may have requirements not addressed or included in this guide.
This guide may be reviewed and updated periodically as appropriate by the Department of Environment and Local Government.