Last Thursday the provincial Liberal government announced the purchase of land in Bayers Lake, at the exorbitant price of $7.5 million, to accommodate clinics set to be displaced by the upcoming redevelopment of the QEII Heath Centre’s Victoria General (VG) site.
The decision to move public services from a central location—highly accessible by public transit—to a remote site in a car-oriented business park runs contrary to all principles of good urban planning.
Some defended the move, pointing out that Bayers Lake is accessible by bus. In fact, the site is approximately 800 metres from the nearest bus route, roughly double the 400-metre cutoff commonly defined by transit planners as the catchment boundary of public transit stops. Any new route introduced to serve this low-density corner of Bayers Lake would require heavy subsidy, and would consequently run at even lower frequencies than the buses that currently ply Chain Lake Drive.
Others, including premier McNeil, alleged that the move will address concerns about gridlock and parking. In fact, traffic congestion stems from precisely this kind of car-dependent urban form. When densities are too low to sustain quality public transit, those with the means choose to drive. Cars are the least efficient mode of urban transportation in every respect. They carry few passengers relative to the amount of road space they occupy. Car-oriented planning inevitably results in congestion—just look at Los Angeles, Atlanta and countless other North American cities.
Bayers Lake may be a more convenient location for patients who visit these clinics from outside metro Halifax, who make up some 40 percent of annual visits to the QEII. However, a Bridgewater resident is less burdened by the extra 15 minutes required to reach the peninsula than a city dweller trying to reach Bayers Lake without a car. Transit to Bayers Lake is an hours-long slog, while cabbing from the most densely-populated areas of the city (and back) represents an unreasonable expense for most. Staff will inevitably choose to commute by car to the new clinic, especially considering there is no housing within walking distance.
Given that the province already owns large underused sites in more appropriate locations, the purchase is also a flagrant waste of public funds.
Which other sites were considered? By what criteria was the Bayers Lake site selected over, say, the parking lots that surround the VG or the Dartmouth General? Both sites are large enough, owned by the province, and accessible via numerous bus routes. The latter is located at the end of Highway 111, near the Woodside Ferry. The Auditor General should look into the site selection process, especially considering that senior personnel at Banc Commercial Holdings Ltd., which sold the site to the province, have donated generously to the Liberals.
Nova Scotia’s fortunes depend on a strong and sustainable Halifax. This means curbing urban sprawl and supporting a walkable, dense, mixed-use urban core that can sustain quality public transit as an alternative to car ownership. Government at all levels should be setting an example, not actively relocating public facilities to the extreme periphery of the city.
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This article appears in Apr 20-26, 2017.
Yes Ben, “the site is approximately 800 metres from the nearest bus route, roughly double the 400-metre cutoff” because there’s nothing there yet.
Ben, you tell the folks of urban HRM that Woodside is an easier commute than Bayers Lake and let us know how that works out.
Most of all Ben, those “40 percent of annual visits…from outside metro Halifax” will keep traffic off of the peninsula, and you’ll be able to put paradise back on those parking lots…
I also believe that locating this facility outside of the traffic and parking congested peninsula is a great idea! In sure there will be bus routes once this facility is open. Very short sighted of anyone to think otherwise …
“Keeping the traffic off of the peninsula” will not allow us to “put paradise back on those urban lots”. Regardless of the mild irritation that any level of traffic causes, Halifax actually suffers less than just about any Canadian civic centre from core congestion. Have you not noticed that you can still drive around and park downtown? Guess why… It’s because Halifax is already essentially a low traffic, low density suburb. Less traffic on our streets (what little actually comes from people from the countryside visiting clinics) will not constitute a substantive change to the traffic conditions of the core, and you can bet it won’t decrease the need for (or at least use of) urban land for parking purposes.
We need MORE centralization NOT LESS, and appropriate infrastructural investment to support it. That investment includes both a carefully considered approach for how to handle the (still very real) need for private vehiclular access, as well as making sure we integrate beautiful green spaces as we continue to develop and evolve the urban fabric. It’s dangerous to act like the only thing in the way of the urban “paradise” you seek is parking lots, partly because it’s simply not true and partly because that doesn’t have to be the only solution. If you act like it is, you’re pitting two things against eachother that don’t need to be so categorically in opposition, and conflicts like that often lead to collateral damage.
A large portion of the people who use these types of out-patient clinic services don’t actually live in Halifax or it’s immediately surrounding communities – they have no choice but to drive to their appointments no matter where in the HRM the facility is located. More than half of the population of nova Scotia does not live in the HRM – Nova Scotia’s future is dependent on making the whole province sustainable and accessible, not just one region.
HaligonianBatman: You must be too young to get the paradise-parking lot reference…
CITY MOUSE1 (I’m not sure your name fits you btw), no actually, I’m not. I get the reference, and don’t mind the song. However, I’m choosing to bring a serious response to a weak joke in a discussion that is sadly lacking in informed opinions.
Halifax is not a dense city.
Halifax isn’t even a congested city (compare it to any other major city centre in Canada).
Halifax (and the broader province by extension) is not a prosperous economy, largely because it has to shell out ridiculous amounts of money to bring services to the geographically largest municipality in the country.
Halifax could be a prosperous economy, but only if it’s walkable, and accessible, and makes good use of the space we already have (LOTS of vacancy downtown). To your point ADELE MACDONALD, maybe having to drive into the city for – shocker – certain expensive services that can’t be provided in every one horse town, is part of the inherent real-world cost of choosing to live in unsustainable, sprawling suburban communities and beyond. And what are they saving? An extra 30-40 minutes round trip? If they’re driving in, they probably did it in a car, but many people living (sustainably, or, without the financial means) in Halifax won’t have that option. Are they going to be expected to wait around for more bus routes (and stops, and constant municipal investment) to be installed?
Halifax is the only significant economic centre in Nova Scotia, but it will not thrive under the burden of continued sprawl. Nova Scotia will not thrive with no economic centres. Nobody gains income by saving a couple bucks on a drive into the city, and as it happens, everyone pays the price in the end.
CITY MOUSE1 (I’m not sure your name fits you btw), no actually, I’m not. I get the reference, and don’t mind the song. However, I’m choosing to bring a serious response to a weak joke in a discussion that is sadly lacking in informed opinions.
Halifax is not a dense city.
Halifax isn’t even a congested city (compare it to any other major city centre in Canada).
Halifax (and the broader province by extension) is not a prosperous economy, largely because it has to shell out ridiculous amounts of money to bring services to the geographically largest municipality in the country.
Halifax could be a prosperous economy, but only if it’s walkable, and accessible, and makes good use of the space we already have (LOTS of vacancy downtown). To your point ADELE MACDONALD, maybe having to drive into the city for – shocker – certain expensive services that can’t be provided in every one horse town, is part of the inherent real-world cost of choosing to live in unsustainable, sprawling suburban communities and beyond. And what are they saving? An extra 30-40 minutes? If they’re driving in, they probably did it in a car, but many people living (sustainably, or, without the financial means) in Halifax won’t have that option. Are they going to be expected to wait around for more bus routes (and stops, and constant municipal investment) to be installed?
Halifax is the only significant economic centre in Nova Scotia, but it will not thrive under the burden of continued sprawl. Nova Scotia will not thrive with no economic centres. Nobody gains income by saving a couple bucks on a drive into the city, and as it happens, everyone pays the price in the end.
I think it is reasonable to locate a medical facility outside of the city core. If bus service is insufficient, it is highly likely the municipality will respond- potentially leading to more sustainable transit threads to and from Bayers Lake from the peninsula.
Also, new construction is much cheaper on a new site. Unknowns, lot constraints, remediation expenses all add up when redeveloping older sites- a fresh lot in Bayers Lake that was purchased for the purpose of this facility might be less of a waste of money as the writer thinks.
Just to fact check the last few quotes, over half of the population of NS actually does live in Halifax. We subsidize the rest of the province when you see that it’s closer to 70% of the economy of the province. The province has choose rural constituents over urban time after time and this is just a continuation of the same old situation. You improve the urban centres and the rural towns gain jobs as well. It’s not a zero sum game, though everyone in the region thinks someone else is stealing their jobs in the next town over.
This government is decentralizing a world class facility and leaving us with a suburban, sub par joke. There is 5 residences in the map they posted, 5!! I’m tired of electing Premiers that aren’t from Halifax, will one party please do that and you have my vote and I’m a lifelong Liberal and I won’t be voting for McNeil next time around and its because of nonsense like this
A Morrision: “I’m tired of electing Premiers that aren’t from Halifax”
Baillie is from Truro.
Burill from NB.
So you’re voting Green…?
Ok HfxBatman, you can have your parking garage at the VG, but clear it with Ben and the green lobby first.
And I didnt argue for turning parking lots into paradise, I suggested anti-car Ben could do so…
CITY MOUSE1, I think you may have misunderstood my point. I did not say we need more parking downtown, I would agree that we have plenty for the existing usage. My point was that if Halifax doesn’t currently have the economic capacity to develop new parks then the vacuum effect of further decentralization, and continual infrastructural expenditure to support it, will make such programs less feasible, not more.
You demonstrate the kind of uninformed suburbanism that plagues our city and province. People who do not understand that you can’t just have everything you want in one place, and move any functional necessity or minor inconvenience out to some far flung ghetto.
Your last sentence seems somewhat abbreviated… Not sure what you meant by it. You definitely did suggest we could “put paradise back on those parking lots” in your original comment. The funny thing about that is that in order to do this, you would support the development of the paradisal forests that surround Halifax, paving them over with… parking lots. That’s what further sprawl and development in Bayers Lake actually does.
By the way, we actually have quite a bit of paradise on the peninsula already… “City of trees” and all that.
Read my original post HfxBatman : “you’ll (Ben) be able to put paradise back on those parking lots” (instead of the bricks and mortar of the clinic as he suggests) if we keep 40% of the clinic visits off of the peninsula.
CityMouse1 I did read your comment. I don’t understand the distinction you are current trying to make. Perhaps I’ve misunderstood you in general, but you do appear to be advocating decentralization and sprawl, so mainly I’m responding to that.