AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE ORDERLY
DEVELOPMENT AND USE OF DESIGNATED
AREAS IN THE PROVINCE AND TO PREVENT SPECULATION IN LAND IN THOSE AREAS
Short title
1. This Act may be cited as the Development Areas Lands Act.
RSN1970 c95 s1
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Definitions
2. In this Act
(a) "development area" means a development area constituted under section 3; and
(b) "minister" means the minister appointed by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council to administer this Act.
RSN1970 c95 s2; 1973 No32 Sch; 1975-76 No18 s3; 1979 c49 Sch A; 1982 c25 s1
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Designation of development areas
3. (1) Where the Lieutenant-Governor in Council considers it desirable, he or she may by order designate an area in the province a development area and the area shall be defined in the order.
(2) The Lieutenant-Governor in Council may by a further order cancel or amend an order made under subsection (1).
RSN1970 c95 s4; 1982 c25 s3
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Prohibition or restriction
4. (1) The Lieutenant-Governor in Council may by regulation prohibit without limitation of time or for a period, or make subject to the conditions or restrictions, that may be prescribed in the regulation
(a) the granting, leasing or licensing of lands, whether privately owned or not, within a development area or the conveyance of other rights in those lands;
(b) the erection, construction or placing of a building, structure or thing in, on or over those lands; or
(c) the application of those lands for agricultural, commercial, industrial, recreational, residential or other purposes.
(2) In a regulation made under subsection (1), a prohibition or restriction may be varied in its application to different lands or areas in the same development area.
(3) Subsection (1) applies in respect of land whether held by a person under grant, lease, licence, conveyance or other instrument or otherwise.
(4) The Lieutenant-Governor in Council may by further regulation cancel or amend a regulation made under subsection (1).
(5) A regulation made under paragraph (1)(a) shall not apply to assurances of rights in land by an executor, administrator or trustee in the performance of his or her duties or to assurances made in good faith to members of the family, including relations by marriage, of the person making the assurance.
RSN1970 c95 s5; 1975-76 No18 s4
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Regulations
5. The Lieutenant-Governor in Council may make regulations
(a) providing for giving effect to a regulation made under subsection 4(1);
(b) providing, where a condition or restriction has been applied under subsection 4(1), for the issue of licences or permits and designating the persons who shall issue the licences or permits;
(c) where licences or permits are to be issued, prescribing the form of licences or permits and applications for them; and
(d) generally, to give effect to the purpose of this Act.
RSN1970 c95 s7
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Registration of grants, etc.
6. A grant, lease, licence, conveyance or other assurance executed or delivered in relation to land located within a development area shall be registered, together with proof of the minister's permission to grant, lease, license or convey that land, by the grantee, lessee, licensee or other person in whose favour the grant, lease, licence, conveyance or other assurance is executed or delivered, in the Registry of Deeds not later than 30 days after the execution or delivery of the grant, lease, licence, conveyance or other assurance.
1982 c25 s4; 1983 c23 s7
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Offence
7. (1) A person who fails to comply with or otherwise contravenes this Act or the regulations or an order made under the regulations is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding $500 and in default of payment to imprisonment for a period not exceeding 6 months.
(2) The conviction of a person for failing to comply with a requirement or obligation referred to in subsection (1) shall not operate as a bar to further prosecution under this Act for the continued failure on the part of the person to so comply.
(3) In addition to the penalty prescribed under subsection (1), the Provincial Court judge who convicts a person of an offence referred to in that subsection may order that person
(a) to remove or restore to its former state a building, structure or thing erected or placed in, on or over land; or
(b) to restore land dealt with
contrary to this Act or the regulations or an order made under the regulations, and, where that person refuses or fails to carry out an order made under this subsection within the time prescribed by the Provincial Court judge, the Provincial Court judge may designate a person to carry it out, and the cost of carrying out the order shall be and may be recovered as a civil debt from the person convicted.
(4) A grant, lease, licence, conveyance or other assurance executed or delivered contrary to this Act or the regulations shall be declared void by a court upon the application of the Attorney General which shall be made within 12 months of the registration of the grant, lease, licence, conveyance or other assurance in the Registry of Deeds and of which application notice shall be given to the parties concerned.
RSN1970 c95 s8; 1979 c38 s7
©Earl G. Tucker, Queen's Printer