If you go to the very back of Halifax’s 306-page Municipal Planning Strategy, you’ll find a 12-page list called Municipal Development Plan Amendments in Chronological Order of Ministerial Approval. That’s a mouthful, so I like to call it “the special snowflake list.” For example, height precincts may allow for a maximum building height of 35 […]
HRM By Design
Posted inNews + Opinion
HRM development’s critical masses
The sound of drills, the sight of construction cranes and the annoyance of closed sidewalks: This scene is familiar to anyone who’s spent time in Halifax lately. It’s getting hard to walk anywhere in the urban core without seeing some sort of high-rise construction. There’s plenty of speculation about the cause of all this building, […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax council hires Richard Butts as new CAO
After a four-hour closed-door meeting, Halifax council Tuesday voted unanimously to hire Richard Butts as the city’s new chief administrative officer. Butts is presently a deputy city manager in Toronto. He will start work in Halifax City Hall March 28. Breaking with past practice of contracting for the job with former CAOs Dan English and […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Barrington Street poised for major makeover
So much for Barrington Street as urban wasteland: Fully nine properties on the street have applied for funding to help rebuild building facades. And city staff is recommending that Halifax council provide the building owners with $200,000 in grant money and just over a million dollars in tax credits to make the renovations become reality. […]
Posted inArts + Music
Starfish reveals plans for the old Sam the mp3 man
Last week Starfish Properties, the real estate company that owns a number of vacant buildings and storefronts on Barrington Street, released a design plan for the former Sam the Record Man and the businesses directly adjacent, which include the former Granite Brewery and Ginger’s Tavern. It will be the first new development proposed under new […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Urban planning explained
To the editor, Congratulations to Tim Bousquet for his article “Urban dreams” (May 28, News). It is one of the most concise and accurate accounts of what has been going on for the past few years in the HRM By Design downtown development fiasco. The issues have many citizens concerned about city hall’s proposed processes. […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
HRM By Design passes
HRM council Tuesday adopted the 11 bylaw changes and administrative directives that collectively make up HRM By Design, the planning strategy that will govern how downtown develops. Councillor Jennifer Watts pushed for the inclusion of energy efficiency standards for new construction, but was told that the city doesn’t yet have the authority to impose them. […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
BREAKING NEWS: HRM By Design passes. AND: Sewer plant failure understood.
Halifax council has passed HRM By Design, with minor amendments. Councillor Jennifer Watts was the only “no” vote. Also, councillors were just handed a five-page report from the Halifax Water Commission. The gist of it is this: The WC knows why the Halifax sewer plant failed, and will brief the council at a June 30 […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
HRM By Design goes to Halifax council for approval
“Halifax was unique, before we got into this, in not having an urban design plan—urban design has been emerging as a serious discipline in the last 20 or so years,” says Andy Filmore, manager of the $405,000 HRM By Design planning initiative. This Tuesday, June 2, culminating three years of highly charged debate, dozens of […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax Design Plan on Deck
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 […]