It hasn’t gone away. In fact, its about to come around again: The Downtown Halifax Business Commission is encouraging folks to write their councillors to support the passing of the long-awaited and much-discussed HRM By Design, the $3 million financial incentive package put together to make firm development standards for downtown and reimagine the business streetscape.
DHBC executive director Paul McKinnon is also the vice chair of the urban design task force, a citizens group for the overseeing of HRM By Design. As a result hes a big supporter of what the plan might do for the complexion of retail in our downtown. He anticipates the plan being presented in March, at which point there will be a public hearing, the results of which prompt the council to say yea or nay.
“It helps reinforce and repair the urban environment,” says McKinnon of the plan, who sees retail spots that don’t benefit from large, unfriendly gaps on Barrington Street. He pointed to the Maritime Centre specifically as part of the problem. He is hopeful that the plan will get the support it needs, even in this dire economic climate. “[The plan] will encourage and require businesses at street level. It puts a major spotlight on downtown. What really revitalizes a downtown is people. We want to encourage people to return, to offer mixed-use housing opportunities.”
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This article appears in Jan 29 – Feb 4, 2009.
It’s strange that MacKinnon calls out Maritime Center as the problem. Although it should never have been built in its existing configuration, at least it is full of people 5 days a week and has the excuse it was built about 30 years ago when we didn’t know better. But what is the excuse for the desolation that is the rest of Barrington? The black hole that is the the Khyber, NFB and City Club buildings; the bums that live at the door to Tim Hortons; the last gasp retailers like Frozen Ocean that have very limited appeal; and the dead zones that are the Sams and Dooly’s storefronts. If you want Barrington to become a vibrant retail street again, you need people living downtown. Limiting height to 6 floors and preventing renovation because everything is allegedly a heritage property is not the way to do that. HRM by Design is a huge disappointment because of those provisions. I believe it will do nothing for the street except perpetuate the squalor that exists today.