RECORD OF TESTIMONY AND STATEMENTS IN RELATION TO 79 



NECESSITY FOR DISTRICTING PLAN 



town planning schemes and for approval of the schemes. As already stated 

 (see quotation above) compensation cannot be claimed and there can be no 

 appeal on the question of restricting the number of buildings to an acre or 

 in fixing the character or height of buildings if the provincial department 

 is satisfied that the restriction is reasonable for the purpose of " amenity " 

 or " hygienic conditions." 



Districting regulations in Canada 



There are districting regulations in one or two cities like Toronto and 

 Hamilton. This is a matter that is subject to the owners presenting a peti- 

 tion and the majority being in favor of the proposal. It is done on the 

 initiative of the owners who may apply to have restrictions placed on prop- 

 erty. But we have no proper or adequate system of districting. 



Objects of town planning 



Both in Britain and in Canada, town planning legislation has for its 

 principal objects, health, safety from fire, convenience, amenity and general 

 welfare. Safety from fire is particularly important in Canada. We pay, I 

 think, six or seven times as much for fire prevention and insurance in 

 Canada as in England. The cost of maintaining fire appliances and fire 

 insurance, I think, is two dollars per capita more than in England. This is 

 largely due to the absence of the control of the character of buildings and 

 the regulation of space surrounding buildings. For instance, in an English 

 city you must put a certain amount of space around your building and that 

 must be paved, or graded with fireproof material. 



Progress of legislation in Canada 



Four out of nine provinces have town planning acts. One of these has 

 a compulsory act for the whole province, and no future development can 

 take place there unless it is part of a scheme. In Manitoba they have just 

 passed an act. In Saskatchewan the Town Planning Bill has passed its first 

 reading. I expect that by this time next year the whole of Canada will have 

 town planning acts. These acts will enable local authorities in all parts of 

 the Dominion to control the use and development of vacant land and also 

 land " in course of development," in a way which will effectively secure 

 health, convenience and amenity. The acts do not apply to land already 

 built upon unless such land has relation to vacant land or partially developed 

 land. We use the words " land in course of development " to distinguish 

 it from vacant land on the one hand or fully built upon land on the other. 

 Land already " built upon," i. e., fully developed, has usually to be dealt 

 with outside of town planning schemes, under what are known as improve- 

 ment schemes. 



There is a scheme being prepared for St. John, New Brunswick, cover- 

 ing twenty thousand acres, which includes ten thousand acres inside the 

 city and ten thousand outside the city. The City of St. John has prepared 

 the whole scheme and it is going outside its own territory. If you restrict 

 a city such as New York in order to prevent bad development within its 

 limits, you may indirectly encourage bad development just over the boundary 

 of the city unless you also restrict the area outside. That is why we insist 

 on co-operation between adjacent municipalities under our acts. 



If in St. John, after a certain date, a few months notice being given, 

 any owner builds a house which contravenes the proposed scheme he has 



