Have your say about the new permanent building on the North Common
Date: Thursday June 5, 2014
Time: 6:30pm to review presentation panels & 7pm for the formal presentation
Location: Atlantica Hotel (former Willow Tree Holiday Inn)
Isn’t it time for a big picture plan that respects the 1994 Halifax Common Plan? In March 2012 HRM found out through a legal opinion that buildings on the Common are likely illegal. So instead of respecting the law, HRM lobbied the provincial government to change HRM’s Charter to permit the legal erection of a permanent building on the North Common in exclusive support of the Oval. https://nslegislature.ca/legc/bills/61st_4th/1st_read/b157.htm
We agree that so far the aesthetic of the Oval has been a junk heap but is a new building is necessary? FHC suggested spending the money to improve the Central Common Pavilion; or to host a yearly international design competition for warming huts like Winnipeg does; or to use yurts as found in many ski hills & golf courses. These were ignored. This permanent building is another major encroachment on the remaining ~ 30 acres of the original 240 acre land grant. We like the Oval but we love the Common. At the public meeting in 2010 everything was about the concerts and $3 million was promised for improvements to the North Common. Now its all about the Oval. What’s the big picture?