A proposed strategic plan for Tantramar calls for a laundry list of more detailed plans for the new municipality, starting this year. The outline of a draft strategic plan was presented to council on March 11, with a full draft expected at Monday’s committee of the whole meeting.
The draft outline calls on Tantramar to immediately take on a tax review, fire services review, recreation plan and housing plan this year, but leaves other big items, such as a climate change adaptation plan, a transportation plan, and a new municipal plan to 2027 and beyond.
The outline also notably does not make any mention of either arts or heritage planning, something that residents and groups have called for at Tantramar council meetings, and that also shows up in a “What we heard” document produced after a series of consultation sessions in August 2024.
Craig Pollett is the consultant hired to lead Tantramar’s strategic planning process, and he spent about 25 minutes in a virtual presentation on March 11 outlining a vision, mission statement, values and goals for the municipality—all borne out of a number of public consultations, stakeholder interviews, and a workshop with senior Tantramar staff and council.
The vision Pollett presented is a sort of motto for the town: “Uniquely connected. Live here, learn here, grow here.” And the mission statement is designed to be more of a directive on how to achieve that vision: “Fostering a connected, creative community that thrives in harmony with nature, innovation and inclusion.” He also listed five key values to be reflected in the plan: Creativity, Sustainability, Leadership, Integrity, and Safety.
Pollett then outlined 15 different goals, split into 29 specific objectives, for the municipality to achieve over the next three years, with some receiving higher priority than others. Most of those objectives involve the creation of a more specific plan or strategy.
“Because this is your first strategic plan as a municipality,” Pollett told council, “there’s a lot of plans in this plan, and that’s to be expected. And what we’ve done is sort of separated these out into three increments, or three tiers of when we think they need to be done.”
2025 strategic and operational plans
- Tax Review
- Organizational Review
- Fire Services Review
- Communications Plan
- Partnership Strategy
- Engagement Strategy
- Recreation Master Plan
- Housing Needs Assessment and Plan
2026 strategic and operational plans
- Services Assessment
- Asset Management Plan
- Services Delivery Strategy
- Economic Development Strategy
2027 strategic and operational plans
- Climate Change Adaptation Plan
- Transportation Master Strategy
- Customer Service & Intergovernmental Relationship Strategy
- Emergency Response Plan
- Municipal Plan
- Infrastructure Investment Strategy
The rough timeline recommends an immediate tax review study “to better understand the post-reform implications of municipal taxing limitations on economic growth.” And then by early next year, calls for a “services assessment” which will look at the “availability and cost of services to all areas of the municipality.”
“You have residents that are now residents of Tantramar, that used to be residents of another municipality, or not a municipality at all,” said Pollett. “And there really needs to be some work done on making sure that everybody has a sense that they’re getting equitable services from this municipality.”
The creation of a new Tantramar municipal plan — looking at land use and development rules — is not on deck until 2027 or beyond. The town of Sackville was set to start work reviewing its 2016 municipal plan back in 2020, but the pandemic postponed the effort. Then came the forced amalgamation in 2023, and the need for a review of the Sackville plan turned into a need for the creation of a new plan for a larger municipality. Plan 360 planner Lori Bickford has said that preliminary work is underway in that process, but the process could take years.
Councillors didn’t have much to say after Pollett’s presentation on March 11, and when CHMA reached out to all nine council members for comment on the outline, we received no responses.
Council will have a chance weigh in on the full draft of the strategic plan, when Pollett comes in person to present at the Monday March 24 committee of the whole meeting at 3pm.
Barring any delays, the plan will then come back to council on April 8 for final approval.
