Yarmouth Town Hall is closed for the following holidays:

• New Year's Day
• Nova Scotia Heritage Day
• Good Friday
• Easter Monday
• Victoria Day
• Canada Day
• Natal Day
• Labour Day
• National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
• Thanksgiving Monday
• Remembrance Day
• Christmas closure begins at 12 pm on Christmas Eve until the first week of January. Exact dates are advertised ahead of the closure.

Wayfinding System

Sometimes the landscape naturally guides people to the centre of town without any intervention, but most of the time we have to provide helpful cues. Places are complex entities, and wayfinding makes a place legible – turning the phonebook of buildings and streets into a novel varied experience. It is more than signs and arrows, it is the science and art of helping visitors build an image of the place.

User Groups

We have identified three classes of users who may benefit from wayfinding: local residents, regional residents, and visitors.

Local Residents

Local Residents require little help; they live within the town lines and use its amenities daily. They have a strong image of the place, knowing what destinations exist and how things are connected. Wayfinding provides some benefits to them: it may point out amenities in the town that locals were not aware of, and it may provide reminders of the benefits of the place (e.g. the Art Gallery of NS, the Town Hall, the baseball fields). Wayfinding may have an inspirational benefit for locals if not a practical one.

Regional Residents

Regional Residents live outside of town lines and enter Yarmouth as the hub of South West Nova to shop, dine, be entertained, do business or visit the regional hospital. They may know the town somewhat, but they will not have a strong image of the town and may need help moving around. Wayfinding is practical for regional residents, pointing them to their destination, but also inspirational by letting them know of other experiences that might be available. VISITORS may be coming to Yarmouth for the first time, from Halifax, Maine, or elsewhere. They may be tourists or businesspeople. Unlike the two RESIDENT user classes above, visitors will not have formed an image of Yarmouth; they do not know where streets lead and will have only a rudimentary knowledge of what destinations exist and how to get to them. Visitors receive the most benefits from wayfinding: they will stay busy, spend money and will be kept comfortable finding their way from place to place. For visitors, wayfinding is both practical and inspirational.

Approach

Our approach is a three-level system, with visitors welcomed to Yarmouth at the edge of the town, then directed to a small number of themed districts, then once within a district, they will be directed to priority destinations within the district. The four districts are:

• Starrs Road District
• Main Street District
• Heritage Houses District
• Recreation District
• Vehicular Directional Signage

These signs are placed at decision points primarily along the arterial and collector roads within the Town. The focus of the vehicular directional system is to lead our visitors toward the destination and direct them to park and encourage exploration on foot. The system includes five vehicular directional signs in its sign families:

• District
• District & Destination
• Parking
• Recreation
• Trail Blazer
• Identification Signage

These signs are used to identify destinations and important boundaries. Depending on their location and purpose, they will be positioned at either pedestrian level or vehicular level height. The system included four identification sign types in the identification sign family:

• District
• Parking
• Recreation
• Bus

Pedestrian Directional And Regulatory Signage

When the destinations are nearby we want people to explore on foot. Yarmouth is planned with a dense, walkable core, with a third of the town’s population (ca. 2000) living in close proximity to the pedestrian commercial core of Main Street. Hence, pedestrian-oriented signage is placed around the Main Street and Historical Houses districts to enhance the walkability of the Town. The system includes four pedestrian directional types in the sign families:

• Bus Schedule
• Pedestrian level map
• Regulatory sign
• Map kiosk

Banner

Banners are used for both directional and identification purposes in our wayfinding system. At the Town limits, a set of Town welcome banners greet the visitors to the Town. Similarly, a set of district banners notify the visitors to an approaching designated district. Corridor banners are used to build the Town’s brand awareness and will be placed along important streets like Starrs Road, Main Streets and Water Street. The system includes three banner types in the sign families:

• Town welcome banner (English and French)
• Corridor banner
• District welcome banner

Excerpt Form: Media Town of Yarmouth - Place Branding and Wayfinding Program design document Dec 2015

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In March 2015, the Town hired MMM Group to guide the Town through an extensive review of the
Town’s Municipal Planning Strategy and Land Use By-Law. This is a yearlong review, to be completed
March 2016, the primary objective is to make these documents clearer and more development-friendly while still protecting our community values.

For those who don’t know, the Municipal Planning Strategy is a broad policy document that provides direction for dealing with problems and opportunities related to the development and use of land within the Town of Yarmouth. This is a visionary document that municipalities use to guide future development in their communities. Once approved by the Provincial Director of Planning, this document has the status of law in our Municipality.

The Land Use By-Law is the mechanism we use for implementing the policies of our Municipal Planning Strategy.

If you have any questions or would like to provide feedback please contact Caroline Robertson, Director of Planning and Development at e:planning@townofyarmouth.ca, p:(902)742-1505 or stop by our office located on the 3rd floor of Town Hall.

Recommended Planning: Economic Development

• Allow for Infill & Increased Development
• Remove parking requirements
• Reduce lot requirements
• Reduce accessory building requirements
• Introduce more uses (i.e. housing, urban agriculture)
• Incentives for landscaping and design features

Encouraging Infill with Concept Plans

email: planning@townofyarmouth.ca
phone: (902)742-1505
or stop by our office located on the 3rd floor of Town Hall.

As part of the Yarmouth Downtown Blueprint Plan, completed in 2010 by Ekistics Planning & Design, the rejuvenation of our downtown public spaces is essential and requires strategic infrastructure investment to strengthen existing downtown assets.

The Main Street Streetscape Project with the Downtown Facade Improvement Program were identified as key priorities by Council in 2014, in the rejuvenation of the downtown.   Ekistics Planning & Design was contracted to design a streetscape in the core of the downtown, encompassing the intersections on Main Street from John Street to Brown Street and Cliff Street. A key objective of the streetscape design was to maximize the potential of the public spaces.

Ekistics Planning & Design developed a streetscape that will be 'uniquely recognizably Yarmouth'. They have introduced in the streetscape design, 'natural elements to balance the existing structured form and to create a hospitable pedestrian environment'.  The Inspiration - our local geology! The Design Concept - continuity of natural materials; reduce drainage on infrastructure; create protected and shaded space for people; and avoid subsurface conflicts with utilities and other services.

The streetscape will include nine bump-outs at the three intersections, benches, bike racks, lighting and trees that will provide - shorter pedestrian crossing distance, enhanced safety, traffic calming, prioritization of pedestrians and opportunities for sitting, gathering, waiting, conversing and shade!  

Construction starts in the early summer of 2016 with completion estimated by August 2016. Watch a video of the full design concept.

This Main Street Streetscape project has contributed funds of $500,000 from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.