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I don’t understand the predictable response to developments like the Fares proposal for Quinpool and Robie – no homes would be affected by shadow or wind, and contrary to the people who “slammed” the development, there are benefits to the whole city from developments like these.
The missing piece of the puzzle in my mind is not the height or scale of the development, but that in this country cities don’t have the constitutional rights to enact inclusionary zoning policies (density bonusing) with developments like this.
Regardless of the lack of an affordable housing component (because of the inadequacies of our city’s charter and inaction by the province on the file), concatenating the property taxes a development like this will produce (~$1 Million a year) to 1/4 of a city block helps Halifax to pay to maintain the unpaid-forward infrastructure sprawling out all around us. Which the Stantec report pegged at Billions of dollars over the next few decades.
Without density in our core, how do we ever hope to get a handle on our problem with runaway suburban development and auto-centric culture? Should this be built in Clayton Park or Bedford West instead so we can have another 1,000 people driving into the core every morning? So we have to build new water and sewer mains, new sidewalks, new streets and new transit lines to service it?
These opponents may mean well but it seems their knee jerk reactions are really uneducated ones – contrarians without merit.
Are these vocally oppositional residents special? Do they have the right to effectively raise the taxes for the rest of the city because they have a quasi rural fantasy they identify with while living next to one of the busiest intersections in the city?
I’m not a growth at all costs kind of guy, but this location is Halifax’s gold Coast, and like central Park, the land costs at this location are naturally higher because of location and demand.
Sure, Fares could propose a 4 story development, with each unit costing $1 million so they could recoup costs and perhaps make a little profit as businesses are destined to do, but does that alternative, that could satiate the quasi-rural fanatics, make sense?
—Tried of the bullshit
This article appears in Sep 17-23, 2015.
This city gives way too much credit to it’s residents. There is no way that locals should be able to make or break a proposed development. They should definitely have a say in the matter but that is it. This is why this city cannot progress out of the 1970’s
Sorry, is this a city? Well now…
Note the age of the opponents… they’ll be dead in 20 years but god forbid the younger generation benefits from their decisions.
Barrington Street has holes where businesses once stood; Spring Garden Road has the largest collection of beggars; it takes 30 minutes to get from downtown to the Halifax Shopping Centre BY BUS… this is a city?
The old folks opposing this are simply worried about their property values. They want to make more money when they eventually sell their homes to pay for their long term care or to leave to their kids. It’s strictly self-interest.
Downtown density is much more efficient in all ways so build ’em now and build ’em high I say.
SGR has beggars for the same reason gangsters rob banks ‘That’s where the money is’
Let em bitch… doesn’t really mean we have to listen to em though, right?
It’s not like it’s in a victorian district or anything.
Build the shit outta that building.
Not all older people are against this type of project. I have been waiting for decades for another building boom in order to hopefully have enough density in the centre of town for me to be able to move back to my old hood before needing nursing home care etc.
Guess we have to preserve the historic view behind the Hill as well as in front of it. Fuckin’ awesome Hill compared to the rest of the hills out there.