Like many communities, the Town of Yarmouth is divided into various zones, ranging between residential, commercial, industrial, and other uses. It would be chaos if you could build a shopping mall in the middle of a residential neighbourhood, or a warehouse right next to an elementary school - so the Land Use By-law sets out provisions for how zoned land can be used, the guidelines for developers wishing to build on zoned land, and how to go about rezoning a given property.
To build or make changes to any property in town, a Development Permit must be issued, and to get one of those, you must satisfy all the requirements set forth by the pdf Land Use By-law (14.95 MB) . Information on the Development Permit and where to obtain one can be found here.