HRM approves 18-month plan, rural councillors want leeway
Halifax Herald
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
By AMY PUGSLEY FRASER / City Hall Reporter
Rural councillors in the Halifax region are responding to development controls in their unserviced areas with cries of "not in my backyard."
Although council passed amendments to its growth strategy that are meant to last for the next 18 months, councillors from the municipality's eastern block asked for special consideration to allow their landowners a bit of development leeway.
During the sometimes fractious 90-minute debate on the interim development plans Tuesday night, the councillors for districts 1, 2 and 3 - essentially the Eastern Shore, Fall River-Waverley and Preston-Porters Lake - said their communities don't require controls.
"The problem is not on the eastern side," said Deputy Mayor Steve Streatch (Eastern Shore-Musquodoboit Valley).
"We all know where the problem is and that's where a lot of this was born."
Halifax Regional Municipality is in the midst of drafting its 25-year strategy and the 18-month interim controls will ensure that the long-term concepts aren't superseded by short-term growth that works against it, staff say.
That happened in Hammonds Plains in the 1990s when Halifax tried to impose a regional plan without instituting short-term controls and thousands of lots were bought up by panicked developers.
This time around, the municipality instituted a blanket 90-day development moratorium in all of its unserviced areas to make sure that didn't happen.
The moratorium is now over, replaced by the 18-month interim growth strategy that stops any new roads from being built in unserviced areas, and limits development to 25 lots per year in subdivisions for which plans were received before Jan. 22, the day the province approved the moratorium.
Mr. Streatch asked for staff to address the possibly of making amendments to allow more development to occur in the eastern areas over the 18 months.
A staff report on the Eastern Shore amendment will come before council Thursday.
If it's accepted, a public hearing could be held at the end of the month.
Mr. Streatch said he was moved by the dozens of people from his area who spoke at a public hearing on the issue last week, including grown men reduced to tears over their inability to provide building lots for their families.
Staff weren't so moved. Despite last week's emotional meeting and council's request to permit the development of family-owned properties, their recommendations were the same as the ones going into the public hearing.
"It's very important that I tell you that that is not because staff didn't listen - we did," chief administrative officer George McLellan said.
He said some of the other things brought up by council - like the manner in which the community was involved in the initial process - were addressed.
"It's not a perfect solution," he said.
Mr. Streatch wants another solution. He says development is possible along the Eastern Shore in the next 18 months.
"We don't find ourselves in the same situation as maybe some other communities on the western side do."
Coun. Krista Snow (Waverley-Dutch Settlement) asked fellow councillors for their support to help the residents that they live, work and shop alongside every day.
Coun. David Hendsbee (Preston-Porters Lake), the only councillor to vote against the moratorium in January, noted the three who joined him Tuesday night in voting against the interim controls.
"Well, the lone voice in the wilderness is not so lonely anymore, but it's still outnumbered."
Coun. Steve Adams (Spryfield-Herring Cove) said he, too, couldn't support the growth strategy in good conscience.
"I will not be a part of a council that will help to affect lives in a negative way."
Coun. Sheila Fougere (Connaught-Quinpool) said the whole region - not just parts - needs a long-term plan.
"That's one thing we fail to realize when we focus internally."
Coun. Linda Mosher (Purcells Cove-Armdale) warned that Halifax could become like urbanized areas of southern Ontario.
"If we allow growth to continue unchecked, we're going to be another Mississauga," she said.
Coun. Bob Harvey (Lower Sackville) said he wasn't comfortable with the proposed Eastern Shore split, noting the future symmetry of the municipality's regional plan could be jeopardized.
"We're going to treat those landowners . . . one way and the rest of the municipality another way for the next 18 months."
After council, the CEO of the Nova Scotia Home Builders Association said he couldn't believe the session.
"It's a joke," Paul Pettipas said, remarking on the disrespect as urban and rural councillors pushed and pulled over the inclusion of the Eastern Shore.
"I have never seen such a confused meeting," he said, referring to the many points requiring staff and legal clarification, and the confusion surrounding a request for a report versus a motion for an amendment.
"I am in this business and I couldn't follow it. I still don't know what they passed and I don't think they know what they passed."
Darrell Dixon, president of the Urban Development Institute, said the decision would be hard for industry people.
"I knew this was a very, very tough decision for council to make."
The municipality will have to do a lot more if it wants people to live in the serviced areas, he said.
"We're not putting in enough density where we should be," he said, referring to proposed low-rise projects for downtown Halifax.