Public engagement’s great, but leave the big decisions to us. That seems to be the lesson from planning staff as the city moves forward with a once-in-a-lifetime redevelopment project. Halifax council voted Tuesday to proceed onto the next major steps in redeveloping the Cogswell Interchange, with an added amendment for some robust public engagement before […]
Planning
Posted inNews + Opinion
Council trades Willow Tree height for (some) affordable housing
Halifax council has decided 10 affordable housing units are worth more than 36. On Tuesday, councillors approved a motion moving forward with a 25-storey height for the proposed Willow Tree tower at the corner of Quinpool Road and Robie Street in exchange for some below-market rents and other public benefits. Previously on Willow Tree, a […]
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City buys 200 acres of land for Blue Mountain-Birch Cove Lakes park
The municipality has finally put some of its money where its mouth is to protect Blue Mountain-Birch Cove Lakes. On Friday afternoon HRM announced it had purchased nearly 200 acres of property near Hobson Lake from West Bedford Holdings. It’s the first land acquisition by Halifax towards creating a new regional park around the Blue […]
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Regional Main Streets plan pitched for HRM’s suburban and rural growth
Several citizen and economic advocacy groups joined together Tuesday morning in asking for a new strategy when it comes to guiding development in HRM: the Regional Main Streets Plan. The proposal would group together several separate planning documents—many of which haven’t been updated in decades—into a single strategy for HRM’s growth throughout both the suburban […]
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So does the Centre Plan exist or WTF?
Willow Tree is in limbo. Armco’s proposed tower at the corner of Robie Street and Quinpool Road was approved by Halifax Regional Council this past spring at a staff-recommended, Centre Plan-inspired height of 20 storeys. APL Properties, Armco’s development wing, came back to city hall last week saying 20 wouldn’t work. The company had been […]
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Marc Denhez on the future of heritage
If there’s an expert on heritage planning in Canada, it’s Marc Denhez. The author and adjudicator has over 30 years experience dealing with historic preservation and planning issues all across the world. He chaired a government-renovation industry task force, and has been honoured by the Canadian Institute of Planners, Ontario’s Ministry of Culture and received a […]
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Why Fairview is paying for Glen Arbour’s poor planning
The more some neighbourhoods cost HRM to maintain, the less tax revenue those same communities are generating. So says a new analysis of the correlation between road length and density in cities across the country that found some dense urban communities in Halifax are subsidizing their affluent suburban neighbours. Urban planners Tristan Cleveland and Paul […]
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Halifax advised province against outpatient clinic’s Bayers Lake location
Halifax planning staff told the province that the location of its new outpatient clinic had significant transportation and community-building challenges which “would be difficult to overcome.” “Evidently,” says the councillor for Halifax South Downtown, that advice was ignored. “It doesn’t really meet any of our goals,” says Waye Mason. The provincial government announced last week […]
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Clinic’s move to Bayers Lake is poor planning, a waste of public funds
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 […]
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Green Lantern building gets the green light from council
[Image-1] Bright days are ahead for one of the downtown’s most iconic heritage properties. Halifax approved substantial alterations to 1581-89 Barrington Street—otherwise known as the Green Lantern building—at Tuesday’s meeting of regional council. The motion was moved “with great happiness” by downtown councillor Waye Mason. “This is a huge thing for downtown Halifax and the […]