Similar Dartmouth plan fails to get approval
The Halifax Herald Limited
Wednesday, December 8, 2004
By BILL POWER / Staff Reporter
Halifax regional council wants control over the approvals process for major developments downtown.
A plan that takes approval of major developments in the Capital district away from the Peninsula community council received a tentative nod at city hall Tuesday.
A similar proposal for downtown Dartmouth was scrapped.
"There is widespread concern about the future of our vibrant downtown," Coun. Sheila Fougere (Connaught-Quinpool) said after a short and contentious debate on the proposal that affects most of the Halifax central business district.
"With these larger projects, there is a lot of interest and a broad feeling a more just decision can be obtained from the entire council," Ms. Fougere said.
She said the change will allow proponents and opponents of a particular development to state their case at a public hearing and before the entire council.
If the proposed change is approved by council on Dec. 14, regional council will take control of decisions on big developments in the downtown business district, waterfront and Spring Garden Road areas early in the new year.
The change would allow regional council to assume final municipal authority over planning approvals where there are "region-wide" implications, a staff report suggests.
A modification of the downtown development approvals process is part of a general realignment of community council boundaries to reflect electoral districts.
Coun. Dawn Sloane (Halifax Downtown) indicated she strongly opposed the change that she said will diminish local input.
She made a futile call for a public hearing on the issue.
"If you live, work or play downtown, it's important to know who's making the decisions," she said.
The councillor called it a "total injustice" to radically alter the downtown development approvals process without public consultation.
A plan to bring decisions on major downtown Dartmouth development approvals to regional council was nixed on a call by Coun. Gloria McCluskey (Dartmouth Centre).
She insisted the Harbour East community council is best suited for the job.
"We are quite capable of considering developments on our own," she said.
Harbour East community council knocked down a proposed seven-storey condo development on Lake Banook after debating it more than two years. The proposal never went to a public hearing.
In Halifax, rejection by the Peninsula community council of a proposed redevelopment of the Brewery Market proved controversial.
Development agreements became the domain of community councils when Halifax, Dartmouth, Bedford and Halifax County municipal governments merged eight years ago.
Several NDP MLAs have called upon council to hold public hearings before taking decisions on major downtown developments away from the community council.
Halifax Regional Municipality has six geographically based community councils designed at the time of amalgamation