By AMY PUGSLEY FRASER / City Hall Reporter

Councillors from Halifax Regional Municipality's eastern districts are expecting a big turnout at a public hearing tonight that will affect development in their area.

The 6 p.m. hearing will help all 23 regional councillors decide whether to grant amendments for districts 1, 2 and 3 that would give developers more leeway when it comes to building over the next 18 months.

"This is an item that's very important to rural folks, especially the residents of the eastern side of the former county of Halifax," Deputy Mayor Steve Streatch said Monday.

"We are expecting a good turnout and a good cross-section of the people speaking."

Mr. Streatch introduced the amendments last month, when council passed an 18-month interim growth strategy that severely curtails development while the municipality works on its 25-year regional plan.

Halifax wants to direct future settlement so that consideration can be given - ahead of time - to where to build roads and other municipal infrastructure in unserviced areas.

The municipality has spent tens of millions of dollars to provide water and sewer service and roads in new developments that have gone unchecked in the past decade.

But Mr. Streatch says the three affected districts - Eastern Shore-Musquodoboit Valley, Preston-Porters Lake and Waverley-Dutch Settlement (which includes Fall River) - don't need development restrictions for the next 18 months.

His amendments would allow property owners in those districts to develop a maximum of eight lots per parcel of land existing prior to Jan. 22, the day a wide-ranging development moratorium was put in place.

One of the keys to the amendments is that they offer flexibility for some new road construction in the three districts.

Developers and landowners in the municipality's other 20 districts are not allowed to build any roads in unserviced areas while the interim growth strategy is in place.

In the past two weeks, Mr. Streatch has hosted two public meetings in his district to gear up for tonight's hearing.

One meeting brought together a group of Eastern Shore developers, while the other dealt with the concerns of the local ratepayers association.

"I think we have a good feel in the community that this is something that they are looking for," he said.

To ensure everyone can be heard at tonight's hearing, council will meet earlier in the day to discuss regular business.

"We are basically going to dedicate the entire evening to the amendment as it applies to the eastern side of the county and we're ready to deal with whatever comes our way."

The last time a public hearing was held concerning development in the municipality, almost 200 people showed up at City Hall.

There weren't enough seats in council chambers to accommodate all of the participants and dozens of people had to be put in a room without an audio or video feed from the meeting.

After remaining in the isolated room for about 15 minutes, they rushed the door to the council chambers and stormed into the meeting.

Another councillor whose district would be affected by the amendments says he's doubts things will get that out of hand tonight.

"I don't know if this is as emotional as the first time around," Coun. David Hendsbee (Preston-Porters Lake) said Monday.

And Mr. Streatch says city staff have taken pains to ensure such a problem doesn't occur again.

"Everybody learns lessons, and we, quite frankly, underestimated the number of people (that day).

"We've made a video and audio link-up for any meeting that we'll need it for."

Mr. Hendsbee is hoping the urban councillors around the table will consider the amendments for the three essentially rural districts.

"I just hope they look at the practicality of what they are trying to do in the area, and that's the biggest concern," he said.

The amendments could give his constituents "some breathing room," he says.

"The development pressures in HRM outside the serviceable boundaries are coming from the northwest regions and not from the Eastern Shore regions."