Category Archives: OPINION

Friends of the Halifax Common send letters to the media and to public officials regarding protection of and development of the Halifax Common.

Rick Howe 95.7 – Is Densification Promoting Demolition?

Hundreds of classic Halifax houses and streetscapes are under threat of demolition. (photo: Alvin Comiter)

April 4, 2017 – Listen as Rick Howe interviews Peggy Cameron on why the Centre Plan will lead to demolition of hundreds of 2 & 3-storey Halifax & Dartmouth homes in growth centres and corridors areas such as Robie St, Spring Garden Rd, College St, Parker St, Chebucto Rd., etc.

See also
Critics fear Centre Plan lacks protection for heritage sites
Plan could be a ‘death sentence’ for hundreds of homes
April 02 story by CBC’s Pam Berman
Heritage advocates in Halifax are dismayed by what they say is a lack of protection for historic buildings and don’t believe new policies in the Centre Plan will improve the situation.
Three of the past four meetings of the city’s heritage advisory committee have been cancelled. City officials said there were no issues to discuss for two of those meetings.
“I find that unbelievable, given the amount that heritage is under threat,” Continue reading →

Does Halifax need Missing “Gentle Density” or Armoyan’s 20-storeys?

FHC’s latest letter to City Council asking them to not approve a 20- or 29-storey highrise at Robie & Quinpool, at City Hall’s April 25th public hearing included Brent Toderian’s

Brent Toderian, former Vancouver city planner now advocates for what his photo shows Halifax already has, “gentle density”.

“Canadian Cities need more gentle density to address housing crunch” article from Halifax Metro. The former Vancouver city planner writes that ground-oriented housing that’s denser than a detached house is the “missing middle” in housing needs.
Something has changed since Mr. Toderian’s keynote speach for the Dexel Group’s 2016 PR campaign promoting towers on the single block of the Halifax Common at Robie, College, Spring Garden and Carlton. Now it seems he would agree that 16-, 23-, 26- and 30-storey highrises are the wrong kind of game changer as they are not conducive to “preserving community building blocks” as part of planning for resilient, diverse, complete and affordable neighbourhoods. But as he describes, this same block is an ideal candidate for in-fill within the middle of the block that would respectfully compliment the existing mixed-use, small-scale historic neighbourhood. Continue reading →

Sorry, Wanderer’s Grounds is not available for Stadium

Friends of Halifax Common have written to HRM Mayor and Council asking them to make a statement to refute rumours and media coverage indicating there will be a stadium built on the Wanderer’s Grounds. The city has received an unsolicited proposal from a private person to put in 3-5,000 temporary bleacher seats. So begins the slippery path. Please see the letter for details. Continue reading →

Centre Plan – The Good, the Bad and the Just Plain Stupid

There’s one good change for the Halifax Common in the draft Centre Plan but the rest seems like more bad news…
The Good The draft Centre Plan designates the Halifax Common a “Cultural Landscape” (p 54) but now it needs to make it meaningful by adopting the 1994 Halifax Common Plan as part of the Municipal Planning Strategy so the primary goals to not give up and to re-capture open space on Halifax’s Common are met not just platitudes.

The Bad Robie Street and a dozen other streets such as Cunard, Agricola, Chebucto are designated as “Corridors” with a goal of “redevelopment of new housing, commercial spaces and job opportunities in mixed use buildings” (p 96). By increasing permitted building heights to 4-6 storeys along Robie Street, the Centre Plan will create an incentive for developers to chew through a long-established, small-scale, mixed-use, Continue reading →

HRM Planning Jamboree – Developers Take a Lesson from The Donald

Mr. Trump in 1980 with a model of Trump Tower. Though it was built with 58 floors, he billed it as having 68 floors. Credit Don Hogan Charles/The New York Times

If you’ve been watching the Halifax development scene maybe you weren’t surprized about the US election. You already know there are no rules. A one-stop shopping jamboree for 18 new development agreement applications, with an open house style HRM Public Information Meeting on Wednesday, December 7, 12–2 and 6–8, at the Atlantica Hotel will determine the fate of a neighbourhood near you. If approved, many of the proposals will impact the Halifax Common, its perimeter and existing small scale mixed-use residential units, commercial spaces and heritage houses. Some example proposals include:

13 storey tower at Robie between Cunard and Compton (NW corner of North Common);
14 storey tower on Robie at Pepperell (near Common Roots Farm);
16 & 30 storey towers at Spring Garden Road west of Carlton St.;
20 & 26 storey towers on College, between Robie and Carlton St.

Yup, it feels like we’re living a paragraph out of a book that The Donald wrote. Got some architecturally note-worthy property? Go ahead demolish it. Want to replace it with a building that’s too tall for the lot size and doesn’t match the zoning? Win approval by promising mixed-use, retail, office and residential. Want even more height? Get more storeys in exchange for a “public” atrium, call it “public space” and put in kiosks to sell your own stuff. Or add art and parking. Maybe a bench? The higher, the richer. Don’t fuss, go ahead wreck the character of the neighbourhood. Call it densification, colour it walkable and sell it as sustainable. Of course the developers can plan how the city will look – don’t they own the land? Don’t they make the rules?
This week Centre Plan presentations and consultations are at Dartmouth Sportsplex on November 16 & Dal on 17th. December 2nd is the deadline to submit comments. Details here: https://centreplan.ca/

Good Planning Needs Adequate Notification & Time to Reflect – – A letter from Howard Epstein, FHC to Jacob Ritchie, HRM

FHC Board Member, Howard Epstein, has written to HRM’s Jacob Ritchie following a recent meeting to relate points of common understanding and to reiterate FHC concerns with about the Halifax Common and the proposed Centre Plan.

In summary:

The Halifax Common is a special place distinct from normal parks. The 1994 Halifax Common Plan could be integrated into the Centre plan. Intensive development on Spring Garden Road at Robie is not compatible with the 1994 plan.

The Proposed Centre Plan should:

favour medium-height buildings
distribute density
delay consideration of any new proposals until Plan is final and density bonusing is in place
respect public input such as in the case of the proposed Willow Tree developments
include a mix of affordable housing; prioritize in-fill of vacant lands
justify the case, if there is one, for towers and place more emphasis on sustainability with real targets for GHG emissions reductions, timelines and measures.

The letter follows here: Continue reading →

Mayor & Council Vote to ‘Fenwick’ the Common

[ alternate link to sound file ]

Imagine a building the height of Fenwick Tower a the corner of Robie & Quinpool

What is the racket at city hall? Despite overwhelming public opposition to George Armoyen’s proposed 29-storey highrise at Robie and Quinpool, City Council has voted to support the project as-is. Four Councilors – Watts, Mancini, Mason and Nicholl – voted to support the recommendation by City Staff for a 20-storey limit – see: Staff Report.

Click PLAY> above to hear News 95.7 host Sheldon McLeod interview Peggy Cameron about why all the other councilors (except the absent Whitman & Johns) voted for 29-storeys.

Under present regulations, the height limit at this site is 14-storeys. If built, the tower will be Halifax’s second tallest building, just 29 feet less than Fenwick Tower.

“Centre Plan Headed in Wrong Direction”

Letter to the HRM Community Design Advisory Committee by Dalhousie professor Steve Parcell, for Wednesday Aug. 23 meeting.

Dear CDAC,
My comments below are in two parts. The first section is new, addressed to you. The second section (with its attachment) is a copy of my comments on the Centre Plan growth scenarios that were sent to planhrm@halifax.ca two weeks ago. (I don’t know if the Planning department forwards a copy of the comments they receive to you.)

1. Comments for CDAC, 20 August 2016
I’ve read Howard Epstein’s letter to CDAC. I agree with him that the Centre Plan is headed in the wrong direction.

As a member of the Willow Tree Group (which has been monitoring proposals around Robie and Quinpool for several years), I’ve been struck by the significant mismatch between the implicit urban vision of the Planning department and responses by the public. This predates Continue reading →

“Making a Bad Situation Worse,” FHC Centre Plan Submission

Centre Plan Primary and Secondary Targeted Growth Areas

“We see the draft Centre Plan as making a bad situation worse. We urge a complete re-thinking of the draft Plan.” Howard Epstein, Board Member, Friends of Halifax Common

Below are FHC Board Member Howard Epstein’s comments on HRM’s June 27th draft Centre Plan Growth Scenarios submitted to HRM Community Advisory Committee. His letter addresses concerns about the Plan’s general approach and the failure to protect the Halifax Common. Click Here to read previous FHC submissions to HRM’s Centre Plan (PDF) and here (previous post).

August 5, 2016

I am writing on behalf of the membership of the Friends of the Halifax Common to offer comments on the draft Centre Plan.

While the main focus of the FHC is on those aspects of the draft Plan that have immediate impact on the Common, we see those matters as arising in an overall context. That is, the general approach of the draft Plan is also reflected in those portions that are directly related to the Common. These comments, therefore, start with the overall approach of the draft Plan, and then move to specific focus on the Common. Continue reading →

Centre Plan Threatens Halifax Common

What ever happened to planning for the Common good?
Deliberately or otherwise and despite FHC’s submission to the Centre Plan, the new draft Centre Plan growth scenarios are about to continue the obliteration of the Halifax Common in at least five ways.
1. The Halifax Common Planning Boundary continues to be mislabeled.
2. Highrise growth is targeted on the Halifax Common at Carlton and Spring Garden Road.
3. Highrise growth is targeted next to the North and Central Commons at the Willow Tree.
4. The Halifax Common’s perimeter along Robie and South Streets are targeted growth areas.
5. Opportunities to re-capture VG Parking lot lands and create a promised Grand Allee from the Citadel to Point Pleasant Park are ignored. (See illustration below, taken from 2007 HRM staff report.)

Details… Continue reading →

Brenton Place – Giving Away the Public Good

In July 2016 HRM’s Design Review Committee (DRC) approved the controversial 16-storey Brenton Place. FHC’s letter to the DRC outlines its concerns…

WM Fares' Brenton Place obtained an extra 3 storeys added to the 13-storey height limit for unknown public art of unknown value. As Tim Bousquet writes: "Here’s the impossible view drawn by the architect, showing transparent trees, the elimination of overhead wires and parking metres, and the sky from Europa." The public art is still a mystery.

WM Fares’ Brenton Place obtained an extra 3 storeys to add to the 13-storey height limit in exchange for unknown public art of unknown value. As Tim Bousquet writes: “Here’s the impossible view drawn by the architect, showing transparent trees, the elimination of overhead wires and parking metres, and the sky from Europa.” The public art is still a mystery.

Dear DRC Committee Members:

Please do not permit the extra height for the Brenton Place proposal.

The building is already controversial as it will block the sw side of the adjacent WM Fares Trillium and the high priced view. When WM Fares built the pre-HRMbyDesign Trillium on South Park Street across the street from the Halifax Common’s Victoria Park it already broke planning regulations by getting approved for 20-storeys where there was a 35 foot height restriction and completely ignoring the 1994 Halifax Common Plan. Continue reading →

Letter to Mayor Savage – Stop Development Agreements

Your worship,
I am writing again to request that HRM Council consider a moratorium on development applications and on any individual changes to the MPS, pending completion of the Centre Plan and also of the Bonusing Study. As stated in my letter of July 2015 it is inappropriate to proceed with any more of these individual projects since they cumulatively have the effect of predetermining the outcome of larger planning exercises, thus rendering citizen involvement futile.

In case that you are unaware of how normalized development through the DA process has become, (above) is an inventory of Development Agreements applications recently provided by HRM. For example in 2014 there were 50, all without respecting existing regulations and ignoring citizens’ concerns. All Development Agreements are, by definition, a departure from established rules of the MPS and LUB, which offer a sense of stability to existing residents. In my experience, citizen comments and concerns expressed about the various individual DA applications are ignored.

To this I should add that the changes that Council has requested the Provincial government to Continue reading →