Town Plan

Municipal Plan Review Process

In the summer of 2008, the Town initiated a review of its Municipal Plan and Development Regulations. A Draft Municipal Plan and Development Regulations, along with the accompanying Future Land Use and Zoning Maps, have now been prepared and are available for public viewing and comment. Council welcomes any comments from the public before the documents come before them for formal adoption. Once the Plan is adopted, a Commissioner will be appointed and a Public Hearing scheduled. The public is urged to submit any comments on the draft documents and maps in writing to the Town.

As part of the Municipal Plan Review Process, the Town has also prepared its “Integrated Community Sustainability Plan” which is a requirement for receiving its portion of funds from the Gas Tax Agreement. This document is also available for public review and comment.

 

Waterfront Development Committee

The Town of Norris Point formed a Waterfront Development Committee to provide assistance regarding present and future waterfront development activities in the Town. Residents’ main priority were upgrades in appearance and activities to provide additional high quality tourism products. Gros Morne National Park has an extensive advertising framework which draws thousands of visitors each year. An upgraded waterfront area would play a large part in attracting these visitors to the town and provide activities and places to visit in a central, localized area.

Ekistics Planning & Design and its associate consultants were commissioned to prepare the waterfront plan. The work began with detailed photographic essays of historic and present day Norris Point to better understand the landscape. Local stakeholder input contributed to the planning and design process by helping to identify the area’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as the opportunities and threats. The consulting team sifted through the ideas, assessed their economic and social merit and gave form to the most appropriate concepts and prepared a detailed report on how the project should proceed.

It is felt Norris Point is well located to take advantage of the growing tourism activity in the province, particularly from the Explorer and special purpose/activity market segments. The aging of the large baby boomer market suggests that the Explorer market segment will show growth, with demand for a variety of outdoor and cultural/heritage travel experiences.

Purpose

The purpose of the Town Waterfront Development Plan is to essentially: establish Norris Point as the visitor destination and service centre for the Gros Morne area;

– provide an enhanced visitor experience in the community, with attendant word-of-mouth promotional spin off benefits;

– create a new community organization to coordinate matters of mutual interest with respect to tourism;

– create new community amenities for use by residents, for example the special event facility and walking paths; and

– provide new traveler services that will attract business from tour operators.

Below are some of the artist renderings for the proposed Norris Point Waterfront Development Plan. Add artist renderings

For questions, concerns or more information on the Waterfront Development Plan please e-mail info@norrispoint.ca.