Tag Archives: 1994 Halifax Common Plan

Parks Canada Paves Garrison Grounds

Work has begun by Parks Canada to pave the parking lots on the Garrison Grounds in anticipation of meeting more demand for parking and having more concerts.
Choosing to asphalt the Garrison Ground parking lots is really a vote against heritage, the environment, the health benefits of public open space and a vote for the car.  As with widening roads, increasing parking capacity is short sighted. All it really does is create more demand.

People come from all around the world to visit Citadel Hill, a designated national heritage site-they don’t come to see new parking lots freshly asphalted. FHC had a meeting with Parks Canada officials about the decision to pave the Garrison Grounds.  We were left with the impression that they had not done enough homework before making their decision.

Some examples: There was … Continue reading →

Media Release – $6M for Oval is Ad Hoc Planning

HRM Staff Support of $6 Million Centralized Oval is Ad Hoc Planning

(Halifax) The HRM staff report on the Canada Games Oval recommending a single centralized skating facility on the Halifax Common is ad hoc planning, according to Friends of Halifax Common (FHC). The group questions the oval’s placement, the planning process and the price tag.

“Friends of the Halifax Common definitely support an outdoor rink, but we believe other locations such as on the Central Common or the Wanderer’s Grounds, or several outdoor skating rinks in local communities throughout HRM would be just as popular as the single giant oval on the North Common” said Peggy Cameron, Co-chair of the Friends of the Halifax Common.

The North Common is less than one-third of the remaining public open space on the Halifax Common, which extends from Cunard St. to South St., bounded by Robie, North Park and South Park Streets. All decisions made by staff and council since the Halifax Common Plan was adopted in 1994 have been inconsistent with it.

HRM staff’s January 2010 North Common Master Plan included ‘improvements’ to the North Common with the major portion of the $2.7 million budget going towards permanent infrastructure for the private, expensive mega-concerts. Reference to these already made expenditures have dropped out of site. Continue reading →

The 1994 Halifax Common Plan

1763 Land Grant as recorded by Jonathan Belcer and found in Nova Scotia Land Grants, Old Book 3, Grant #77, p.166-168
In 1994, after public uproar over paving part of the Common for the Grand Prix road races, Halifax City Council adopted the Halifax Common Plan after a successful and meaningful public consultation. It promised…

Section 2.1:The amount of public open space in the Halifax Common will not be decreased.
Section 3.1:The amount of land owned by the City of Halifax will not be decreased.
Section 3.2: The city will seek to increase the amount of land under city ownership through recapture of lands.

The original Common boundaries were outlined in red on this map from 1898. Here we show it in green.

 

 

 

 

 

1993CommonPlanPublicConsult
2006 HRM call for plan review of 1994 Plan
1994 Halifax Common Plan on HRM website
2006 HRM call for staff update

 

Drawing Green Parallels – Chronicle Herald

Drawing Green Parallels
Commons supporters, climate change activists join forces to highlight need to protect nature
By MICHAEL LIGHTSTONE Staff Reporter, The Chronicle Herald

’Our vanishing Halifax Common(s) is a metaphor for the disappearance of our global Common, most urgently our atmosphere and climate’ SHEILAGH HUNT – Friends of the Halifax Common

Michael Stuttard takes a chalk along the South Common (Robie Street near Camphill Cemetery).

Michael Stuttard takes a chalk along the South Common (Robie Street near Camphill Cemetery).

Remnants of the original Halifax Commons are representative of the “disappearance of our global Common,” park lovers and climate change fighters say.

An event promoting today’s International Day of Climate Action and bemoaning the vanishing Halifax Commons was held Friday afternoon. Less than one-third of the Halifax Common’s original 95.1 hectares, granted in 1763 by King George III, is public open space, say Friends of the Halifax Common.

Members and supporters drew a line around the entire perimeter of the original Commons. Volunteers were supplied with chalk at various meeting points around the site.

“Our vanishing Halifax Common(s) is a metaphor for the disappearance of our global Common, most urgently our atmosphere and climate,”” said Friends member Sheila Hunt. Continue reading →

Take a Chalk Around the Common-International Day of Climate Action 350.org

Halifax- In support of 350.org, International Day of Climate Action, Friends of Halifax Common

Michael Stuttard takes a chalk along the South Common (Robie Street near Camphill Cemetery).

Michael Stuttard takes a chalk along the South Common (Robie Street near Camphill Cemetery).

are inviting the public to volunteer to help them in drawing a chalk line around the entire perimeter of the original Common. Join them on Friday October 23rd from 12-2 p.m.

Less than 1/3 of the Halifax Common’s original 235 acres granted in 1763 by King George III is public open space.

“Our vanishing Halifax Common is a metaphor for the disappearance of our global Common, most urgently our atmosphere & climate” said Sheila Hunt of the Friends. “Our air, water, and land – the common heritage of all people – are being degraded. How we choose to deal with the finite natural resources of our planet has lasting repercussions for future generations.”
Continue reading →

The Coast, Bruce Wark Editorial – Looking for Common Sense

E D I TO R I A L by Bruce Wark

Looking for Common sense
The land deal between the city & the province chips another piece off of the Halifax Commons
Rodney - Common Sense?I call it city council’s royal fuck-up. The Queen’s High School
is being traded to the Queen’s Hospital for a new central library on—where else—Queen Street. And we’re all worse off. The deal means another chunk of the Halifax Common is about to disappear. It’s all part of a land swap between city and province that council approved last week.
Believe it or not, the city is giving away 269,000 square feet of prime downtown land in return for 131,000 square feet of prime downtown land and paying nearly two million bucks for the privilege.

Under the deal, the province gets the former Birks site on Barrington to build more office space plus the Queen Elizabeth High site at Robie and Bell for expansion of the QE II Infirmary. In return, the city gets the block on Queen between Spring Garden and Morris for a central library, officespace, shops and housing.

Halifax Metro News – Hospital space trumps green space in Common decision

By Lindsay Jones

The Queen Elizabeth High School property is part of a land swap between the city and the province.

The Queen Elizabeth High School property is part of a land swap between the city and the province.

Regional council approved giving up the rest of the Queen Elizabeth High School land to become part of a hospital expansion yesterday.

The city is exchanging the former Halifax Common land, as well as several other parcels, with the province to help pay for land at the corner of Queen Street and Spring Garden Road. That’s the site where the city wants to build a new Central Library. Continue reading →

Media Release – Common for Sale?

Is the Halifax Common for Sale?

HRM Council is going to sell the Queen Elizabeth High School site, Halifax Common land. This is to facilitate Flagship Developments on Spring Garden Road & Queen (the new public library) and the Grand Parade & Province House.

The Halifax Common Plan is very specific about the amount of city-owned land in the Halifax Common not being decreased (3.1). The Plan recommends preserving public open space for a variety of outdoor recreation and leisure activities or other suitable public uses.
Continue reading →

Chronicle Herald Op Ed – Protecting Halifax’s Common Ground

Money spent by HRM for private and expensive Concerts on the Common would be better spent on protecting the Common for everyone.

Public money spent by HRM for private, expensive Concerts on the Common would be better spent on protecting the Common for everyone.

Recently, Friends of Halifax Common were informed HRM will begin electrical repairs to the Centennial Fountain on the North Common. This was conveyed to us as a “good news” story. Indeed there hasn’t been much good news about the Common for a long time.

The Halifax Common, Canada’s oldest urban park, was created in 1763 when King George III granted 240 acres “for the use of the inhabitants of the Town of Halifax forever.” Originally extending between Cunard and South Streets, bounded by Robie on the west Continue reading →

Friends of Halifax Common Challenge Sale of Common Land – Media Release

Friends of Halifax Common (FHC) are calling on the provincial government to stop the sale of 5.5 acres of Halifax Common land at the former Queen Elizabeth High School (QEHS). The QEHS land is included in a land swap between HRM and the province. FHC says this a bad deal. HRM will lose public open green space, pay $1.9 million for the land swap but will acquire half as much as land as the province.
Continue reading →

Haligonians Reclaiming the Common

The Friends of the Halifax Common has engaged in a number of initiatives to try and raise interest in and support for ensuring the intent and spirit of the 1994 Halifax Common Plan is upheld.

This has included succeeding in having the 1994 Halifax Common Plan be available on HRM’s website in 2008.

Because most HRM Councillors are unfamiliar with the Halifax Common Plan, FHC asked to permission to do a presentation before the Council.

We were not granted this but we did make a presentation to the Community Council (Dawn Sloane, Sue Uteck, Sheila Fougere & Patrick Murphy) to inform them about the existence and principal mandate of the Friends of the Halifax Common. One outcome was that each Councillor was to receive a hard copy of the Halifax Common Plan 1994.

We also asked that Mayor Kelly and Council follow through on a promise made by Mayor Kelly to have a Halifax Common Task Force formed to ensure that there attention being paid to the Common and with public participation.

The Mayor has not kept this promise.