Tuesday’s council meeting was lengthy, going long into the evening. Most of the items were resolved as expected, and as I outlined Monday in the council preview. The exceptions and additions are below. Developer fees Council discussed the “Capital Cost Contributions”—CCCs for short, which are fees to be charged to developers—for about two hours. The...
Halifax council preview: July 22, 2014 meeting
Council last met on June 25, so there’s lots to do this week. The meeting starts at 10am Tuesday, and I’ll be live-blogging it on Twitter via @hfxExaminer. The highlights: Development fees for transit When I reported in California in the early 1990s, development fees were already a long-established fact of municipal government. In California’s case,...
Your name here: Which company will jump at the opportunity to be associated with obliterating the Morse’s Teas sign?
What company will jump at the opportunity to be associated with obliterating a piece of Halifax history? We’ll soon find out: A banner atop of what was once the Morse’s Teas sign announces that a lucky tenant of the building can put its company name on the historic site. Readers will recall that on […]
Groups may have to compromise on housing plans for St. Pat’s-Alexandra site
North end residents dreamed big about the future of St. Pat’s-Alexandra at a meeting last night, but heard they may have to compromise on their housing goals. About 70 people attended the consultation at the Halifax North Memorial Public Library to yet again speak their minds on the future of the former school site. It...
Scapegoating Heritage Trust
It’s Beat Up on Heritage Trust time. Again. This time it’s a full page ad in the Chronicle Herald signed by seemingly everyone in town connected in some way to the development industry, including Sarah Dennis, the Herald’s owner and publisher, and her husband Mark Lever, the company’s president. The ad attacks Heritage Trust for asking for […]
Former Mayor Peter Kelly has a new job
Peter Kelly has found a job. The former mayor is now working at a pest control company owned by his former employee, Stephen Taylor. Residents say Kelly has shown up at their apartment buildings donned in protective gear and carrying a tank, spraying for bugs. Taylor has long been a dedicated supporter of Kelly. Taylor worked...
Nova Centre developer sues Heritage Trust, asks for “tens of millions of dollars” in damages; read the suit
Through his development company, Argyle Developments, Nova Centre developer Joe Ramia is suing Heritage Trust and each of its 27 directors, and seeks “tens of millions of dollars” in damages, claiming that: Heritage Trust has consistently acted contrary to its mandate and opposed various development projects within HRM not in line with their objectives. The...
City council recap, June 24 & 25, 2014
Regional Plan Review After three years of public input, delays, debate, more delays, subcommittee meetings and more delays, Halifax council has finally completed the “five year” review of the regional plan developed eight years ago, and has approved all the recommendations of the review. The revisions are not radical, but they tighten up planning policies...
Linda Mosher’s court date postponed, again
Last December, there was a horrible accident at the corner of North and Agricola Streets, and two pedestrians on the sidewalk were hit by one of the cars involved. Both pedestrians were injured, one quite badly. The afternoon of the accident, police announced that a white SUV was involved, but had driven away; they asked the […]
Misinformation and bad arguments over the Africville dog park
Tomorrow, Halifax council will consider a staff proposal to decommission the Africville dog park. Since I commented on the issue Saturday—it’s behind the paywall, but basically I said the dog park should be moved across the highway to Seaview Overlook Park—I’ve received a barrage of comments from supporters of the dog park. They have three main arguments. […]