Latest news with #HalifaxRegionalMunicipality
CBC
a day ago
- Business
- CBC
Halifax council passes plan to prepare city for 1 million people
Social Sharing Halifax councillors have passed a plan guiding growth in the region for years to come, but say there is nothing they can do about provincial housing rules many residents called a "massive overreach" from the provincial government into municipal affairs. On Thursday, residents at city hall spoke for hours at a public hearing on the new regional municipal planning strategy. It will replace the current regional plan from 2014 by changing a slew of bylaws and planning documents across the Halifax Regional Municipality. Staff have said the upgrade was needed to prepare the region to support one million people, in light of Halifax's unexpected population growth ranging from two to nearly four per cent since 2021. Staff project Halifax could hit that million mark by 2050 under certain scenarios. The new plan continues the city's goal of densification, and aims to have 75 per cent of new development go in the urban area where water, sewer and transit services exist. But multiple speakers raised concerns about the province's special planning areas, where they have taken over development control from the municipality in a bid to fast-track housing. They were especially concerned about the areas in current green spaces around Sandy Lake, and Blue Mountain-Birch Cove Lakes, where a national urban park is proposed. "We need council to stand up for what residents are begging them to safeguard — and stand up to the province's massive overreach into our municipal affairs," Jillian Ramsay of the Ecology Action Centre said after the meeting. Ramsay said the plan was weakened by special planning areas and the province's minimum planning requirements. Those requirements, which Halifax had to pass by June 30, include allowing residential uses in most zones, removing bedroom-unit requirements for buildings going up before April 2027, and allowing new housing forms like shipping containers or modular homes. "The minimum planning requirements are a road map to sprawl, and the special planning areas are where they want that sprawl to happen," said Ramsay, who also spoke for Our HRM Alliance — a coalition of more than 60 environment, business, and health groups. "The province is building cities we don't want to live in. You don't have to let them do it." Kathleen Hull said residents want to help push back against these moves by the province. "We want you to reach out to us, and we'll in any way do what we have to do, and say what we have to say to the province," Hull said. But after the hearing, municipal lawyer Jonathan Traves told council that Municipal Affairs Minister John Lohr has been given the legal authority to make development decisions in the municipality, including special planning areas. Any action Halifax takes that would conflict with those decisions "would not be permitted in law and so it would be struck down as void," he said. Coun. Shawn Cleary said that while council may not have legal room to push back on these issues, he was glad people spoke up. "I'm hoping that filters its way back to Province House so that they know what our residents feel," Cleary said during the meeting. Some councillors repeated concerns from last year that the direction to remove requirements around how many bedrooms should be in new units will have damaging consequences, resulting in buildings of bachelor or one-bedroom apartments. "That's a problem around supporting families, that's a problem around affordability," said Coun. Patty Cuttell. She asked staff to consider how the municipality can require higher bedroom mixes in the upcoming plan on Halifax's suburban areas, which council unanimously passed. "We have so few tools in our toolbox at the municipal level to make housing affordable, and this is one tool that we had that has been removed," said Coun. Kathryn Morse. "I think we have to do whatever we can to try to find a way … to get the mix back." The new regional plan does expand the buffer zone, where no new development can occur, around waterways, wetlands and the coastline from 20 to 30 meters. But, where this prevents a property from being "reasonably developed" a landowner could find alternate approaches through a development agreement. The plan also outlines that commercial solar energy projects are allowed in certain rural zones automatically, or by development agreement in urban and suburban areas where staff said there is a more pressing need to preserve land for housing. It also streamlines short-term rental rules in rural areas to allow one rental per lot that doesn't have to be owner-occupied. This permission has already existed in most districts in the western parts of Halifax, like the St. Margarets Bay area, but will now apply to the Eastern Shore, Lawrencetown, Musquodoboit Valley, Porters Lake and Fall River. Staff said the regional plan sets up work over the next few years to complete plans for the suburban areas of Halifax, and a strategic growth and infrastructure plan that will assess what water and wastewater projects are needed to support the growing city.
CBC
3 days ago
- Business
- CBC
Halifax auditor general says 'no way to know' if winter crews are doing good job
Halifax's auditor general says the city is not properly managing its winter operations, with no evidence to show how things are going. A report looking at the two winter seasons across 2022-23 and 2023-24 was released to Halifax's audit and finance committee Wednesday. "I don't understand how some basic questions either aren't being asked, or certainly aren't being answered," Andrew Atherton told reporters after the meeting. Municipal crews clear the downtown cores of Halifax and Dartmouth, while the city spent about $30 million annually for those budget years on private contractors that handle the rest of the region. The audit said public works staff could not say how much Halifax Regional Municipality spends on its in-house winter operations crews. Atherton said staff have told him it's difficult to keep track of internal spending because multiple departments are involved during winter storms. But he said it's important to track that money so council and staff can see trends over time, and compare what's spent in-house to what Halifax is paying its contractors. "What if council wants to have a discussion — 'Well, should this new subdivision be in-house, should it be contractor? Which one's the most effective? Do we have excess capacity with our in-house teams?' We have no idea. There's no way to know if we don't start to collect some more information on it," he said. "And it would make me very uncomfortable to be in that position as a manager." The audit showed staff did not monitor whether any crews were meeting the municipality's service standards. These standards outline when roads and sidewalks are expected to be clear, ranging from 12 to 36 hours depending on the type of street and how much snow has fallen. Although public works supervisors complete reports after every weather event, they are simply given a blank text box to fill out with no specific questions about how crews handled their duties. "Each time, the supervisor is saying, yeah, everything was done great and that's the … extent of the information," he said. The audit showed public works management said they can't measure whether the standards are being met because they don't have the "required technology." While Atherton said it would be ideal to have tracking technology in the future on plows, like the province uses, it is very possible now to take a sample of roads and sidewalks to check how quickly they were cleared across each storm. The audit also said that when residents call 311 to report property damage from any crews, Halifax doesn't track when or if the repairs are ever done. Atherton said staff have told him there are informal conversations with contractors on most of these topics, and it's very possible that all crews are doing a great job. But he said it's important to record everything so staff and councillors can see if there are patterns, like a certain neighbourhood being cleared late in every storm. The city has not penalized any companies for not fulfilling their contracts since 2019, and each year Halifax staff gave the private contractors positive evaluations. "I'm at a loss as to understand what information was used to do so," Atherton said. Councillors hope report brings change Coun. Shawn Cleary said he was expecting this outcome based on complaints from residents, especially about property damage not being promptly addressed. "It is damning, but it's also heartwarming in the sense that maybe we can actually change some things," he said during the meeting. "I hope the result of everything that you're suggesting here will wind up actually moving the needle forward so that we can ensure that we're getting the best value for our residents," said Coun. Jean St-Amand. Halifax staff have accepted all 13 recommendations from the audit. The audit and finance committee asked for a plan to address the recommendations within three months.
CTV News
11-06-2025
- Sport
- CTV News
Halifax's permanent stadiums inch closer to becoming a reality
The push to build a new permanent outdoor stadium in downtown Halifax is gaining momentum. The city has taken a step closer to making a new venue a reality, to replace the Wanderers Grounds temporary pop-up stadium as council has decided to examine design and construction proposals. 'I see the need for a stadium, but I see the need for a proper stadium,' said Halifax Regional Municipality Councillor Patty Cuttell, who would like city planners to choose a different location to preserve the community green space and she's concerned the project may require a bigger seating plan. 'We are a growing city, and we can't undersize that stadium and we need the right size.' In its current state, the Wanderers Grounds is the home field for men's and women's professional soccer. Sellout crowds have been consistent, which has resulted in a push for a permanent facility to be built on the same site. There are potential roads blocks, with some arguing that using public land to house a stadium for professional soccer is a bad idea. 'If it should pass, I know for sure there would be a court action challenging in that decision,' said Friends of Halifax Commons board member Howard Epstein. The current pop-up stadium version of the Wanderers Grounds seats roughly 6,000 people. Saint Mary's University head football coach Steve Sumarah hopes a new stadium will have a capacity of at least 20,000, to open the door for Halifax to one day have a team in the Canadian Football League. 'If you're going to talk about a stadium, then you have to talk about all the extras with it like the CFL,' said Sumarah. 'What are the sports and the other use?' Size and space are also ongoing concerns. Some council members argue the Halifax Wanderers Grounds is too small of a footprint to build a permanent stadium and say the city should search for different locations.
CTV News
11-06-2025
- General
- CTV News
Halifax launches official Bluesky accounts as deadline to transition away from X approaches
A cell phone user looks at Bluesky Social in Lima, Peru, on Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024. The Halifax Regional Municipality has officially launched Bluesky accounts one month ahead of a self-imposed departure from the X (formerly Twitter) platform following a council decision earlier this year. Last April, council voted 16-to-one that the municipality should discontinue its eight official X accounts, which have a total of 243,545 followers. Council made the decision after receiving a staff report which noted the municipality had been reevaluating its social media presence in recent years due to 'significant volatility' on the apps. 'Staff placed particular focus on the status of X, due to concerns with policy and operational changes undertaken by this platform and began to investigate alternative options among emerging platforms,' the report reads. 'As part of the assessment process, concerns regarding X's governance, operational stability, declining user engagement, misinformation, disinformation and the introduction of paid features limiting access to analytics were identified. 'Also, X's evolving policies and content moderation practices were deemed to be increasingly inconsistent with our organizational values, most notably diversity and inclusion, respect, integrity, accountability and evidence-based decision making.' Halifax has activated six Bluesky accounts, including: @ (main account) @ (Halifax Transit) @ (Halifax Regional Fire & Emergency) @ (Halifax events) @ (Halifax Parks and Recreation) @ (Halifax Planning and Development) Bluesky originated as a research project at Twitter in 2019, but it became an independent social media platform in 2021. The report cited the app as a strong alternative to X due to its similar interface to the older platform, the ability for people to see posts without signing in and transparent content moderation. 'Use of all X accounts managed by the municipality's Corporate Communications division will be discontinued by July 14, 2025,' a news release from the municipality reads. 'Halifax Water, Halifax Regional Police and Halifax Public Libraries are not part of the municipality's transition to Bluesky. 'While these organizations are related to the municipality, they each have unique governance structures, oversight boards and their own communications teams. As a result, they manage their social media strategies and platforms separately.' For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
CTV News
06-06-2025
- Climate
- CTV News
Repairs to take months following leak at library, community centre in Dartmouth, N.S.
The Dartmouth North Public Library is closed due to a leak. (Source: Google Maps) A Dartmouth, N.S., library and community centre, which has been closed since March due to a water leak, will continue to be closed for months due to remediation work. The Dartmouth North Community Centre and Dartmouth North Public Library at 105 Highfield Park Drive suffered 'significant flood damage' on March 6, according to the Halifax Regional Municipality. At the time of the leak, Halifax Public Libraries said the building would be closed for at least five days. The municipality now says the site will remain closed for several months as the restoration work continues. All parks and recreation summer programs that were scheduled to be held at the community centre will now be located at the Gerald B. Gray Arena or a nearby Halifax Regional Centre for Education school. Halifax Public Libraries also plans to offer temporary service from a portable unit at the site. Additional details will be released in the coming weeks. Dartmouth North Public Library The Dartmouth North Public Library is closed due to a leak. (Source: Google Maps) For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
