COMMON QUESTIONS
C+D Community Design was founded in February 2021 when we received our first client, the Municipality of the District of Yarmouth. We are a new company with a wealth of knowledge gathered from our collaborative experience in previous positions. We have an abundance or passion and dedication to offer.
We work with our clients to imagine the future and then provide the services to document and achieve their vision. Our expertise is in Land Use Planning, Coastal Management and Landscape Design.
No project is too small or too big for us. Our company is located within Southwest Nova Scotia. We love living here and want to provide our personal knowledge of this region to support and help our clients.
Our team consists of three Planners, all with different interests and skill sets. We offer support to Municipalities for both the day-to-day interpretation and implementation of their planning documents as well as in the planning and design of strategies.
We also are happy to help private developers navigate the sometimes-tedious Development and Building Permit Application Process.
Southwest Nova Municipalities are surrounded by the sea. This distinctive geographic trait is so important when considering planning, development, and environmental protection within our area. Therefore, we have expanded our skill set to offer Coastal Management. We want to be able to support our local Municipalities in the development and implementation of Coastal Strategies as well as aid them in finding their place and voice within Provincial and Federal coastal initiatives.
Finally, we offer landscape, trail, park, streetscape, and private yard design. Our team will bring our in-depth knowledge of native plant species, as well as our understanding of good public and recreation space design for all your landscaping needs. We cannot wait to get started on your project.
Our office is located in Southwest Nova Scotia in the beautiful Town of Yarmouth
Although we are located in Yarmouth we work throughout Nova Scotia and are always happy to help.
Community planning involves the formulation of long-range visions, goals, policies and strategies for achieving social, economic and environmental sustainability within a community in order to guide future community development. Typically referred to as "long range planning", community planning differs from day-to-day development planning which typically focuses on the review of current development proposals to determine how they fit within municipal planning documents.
Interested in having us design an outdoor space for you? No space is too big or too small? We do trails and parks, as well as private commercial and residential home landscape design. Want to spruce up your parking lot? Concerned about storm water management and want to try some natural solutions? We're the team for you.
We offer landscape site plans showing existing conditions and site inventory including:
- Datum for elevations
- Topographic survey including spots, elevations, contours and tops and bottom of banks
- Benchmarks
- Location of legal property lines
- Statutory rights of way and easements
- Identification of public and private ownership
- North arrow and compass direction
- Buildings, structures, and monuments
- Hardscape elements including paths, driveways and curbs
- Edges and centrelines of adjacent streets
- Site servicing infrastructure
- Items of significant cultural or historic value
- Existing vegetation
- Edge of watercourses and water bodies
- Edges of centerlines of swales, ditches, culverts and storm sewer inlets
We offer landscape layout plans including, as requested:
- Existing elements that should be retained
- Existing natural features
- Location of vegetation and stormwater protection measures
- All proposed plants, planting beds and seeded and sodded areas
- Composition and finished of all hardscaped areas
- Height and materials of all fences, screens and walls.
- Stormwater management landscape features
- All existing and proposed surface infrastructure
- Identification of all relevant features
- Cultural sensitive or historic landscapes
- Existing and proposed changes to sites grades
- Planting plan
- Plant size
- Root zone conditions
- Plant form
- Quantities
- Irrigation plan
No, our site plans are intended for landscape design purposes.
We do not currently have the capabilities to implement the construction of our landscape
plans. Instead we work with the property owner or local contractors to oversee the plans
creation.
This is what we love to do.
Our team members are outdoor adventures who love to find and utilize trails and parks in our own recreation and downtime. We all regularly choose our family vacations based on the outdoor recreation options available. We enjoy to hike, mountain bike and camp throughout Nova Scotia.
We offer comprehensive park inventory services including:
- Identification of all land-based trails and parks within a region
- GPS data and location information for all trails and parks
- Documentation of all challenges and areas of disconnect between parks and trail networks
- Consultation with local trail and park groups users
- Detail photography of trails and park services
In addition to inventory, we also offer support in developing detailed plans for future investment and promotion of park and trail facilities. This service includes:
- Recommendations on trails and park connectivity
- Classification of trails based on skill level, local recreation and tourism
- Consistent and supportive language with the Nova Scotia Share Strategy for Trails
- Policy suggestions to further the goals of the community for public and recreational space
- Phased plan and implementation framework for Municipal investment
- A vision for the future of your community trail network including tourism potential, trail and park development and maintenance, funding and marketing.
In Nova Scotia, our connection to the ocean offers tremendous opportunity and resources. This connection to the shore has played a significant role in the creation and layout of our communities within this region and has shaped our cultural norms and identity.
With the coast playing such a vital role in everything we do; it is hard to believe that there have been truly little planning efforts to protect and manage this space at any level of government.
We offer Municipalities the opportunity to claim a place for their authority within the Federal and Provincial process; To supply a model of how municipalities can plan within the Marine Spatial Planning Program; and to demonstrate how to work cohesively to protect our coastline.
We would love to work with your community to create a coastal strategy that will enable and support economic growth within your region through an environmental lens, considering and protect our ocean resource. This process would provide depth and policy to your existing goals and develop policy to ensure that residents who have grown up with public access to the coastline, keep and serve that cultural right.
It is important that decision makers have the right resources available to them when considering development within coastal regions. Many communities in Nova Scotia and throughout Canada derive their economic stability from development and operations that are based on the sea. Protection of these environments is vitally important for the future.
A coastal strategy investigates and compiles a wealth of information on social, economic, cultural features and descriptions of human activities that pertain to the coast. This data is then used to help make decisions and develop tangible policies on how best to use the coastal areas and ocean resources in a sustainable manner.
This is what we love to do.
Our team members are outdoor adventures who love to find and utilize rails and parks in our own recreation and downtime. We all regularly choose our family vacations based on the outdoor recreation options available. We enjoy hiking, mountain biking and camping throughout
Nova Scotia.
We charge an hourly rate between $100-150/hour for our senior staff and $50/hour for our junior staff members.
We also over set project fees and services depending on the work required. Contact our office for more information.
Need planning expertise and advice? Let us help.
Our team has a wealth of development experience to offer. For advice or a quick review of your project and a development permit checklist OR any other small questions you may have we charge a flat service fee of $50/hour.
We don’t want you to ever feel alone or lost in an ocean of planning policy. Let us light your way through.
Building a shed or garage? Changing the number of units in your home? Adding a deck? Setting up a home business?
Make us your assigned agent and we’ll compile your Development Permit Application and handle all correspondence with the local Municipality. We offer As of Right Residential Development Applications for a flat fee of $200.
We’ll make the permit process quick, easy and worry free. Can you afford to not hire us?
The Municipality of Yarmouth has engaged our company to act as their Planning team for all their Planning related matters. We are their Community Planner on staff. We provide development support to their Development Officer, process all amendment and development agreement applications as well as advice Council and the CAO on planning issues as they arise. For this reason, we do not accept projects within the Municipality of Yarmouth in order to prevent a potential conflict of interest.
We have the capabilities to do basic drafting and design to help with your vision. We do not have extensive knowledge of building code, nor do we offer stamped engineer or architecture plans.
If you need basic sketches or drawings to accompany your permit applications, we are happy to help.
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