Community groups join forces to combat urban sprawl
Posted May 26, 2011 05:10:31 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A new alliance of community groups has been formed in HRM, hoping to curb urban sprawl.
Seventeen community organizations including the Ecology Action Centre, the Downtown Halifax Business Commission and the Heart and Stroke Foundation have joined forces to lobby for sustainable growth ahead of the first five-year review of the city’s municipal planning strategy.
Alliance spokesperson Geoff Le Boutilier tells the Rick Howe Show the plan was a good one to begin with, but heavy development outside the downtown core shows it’s not being followed.
“The plan was devised around a hub-and-spoke concept, but in fact what we’re getting is a peanut-butter spread approach,” he said. “It’s almost as if peanut butter were being spread over the entire huge rectangle that is HRM.”
The alliance says urban sprawl is costing taxpayers money, because they’re subsidizing commercial developments and hurting the environment, as sprawl encourages more vehicle use.
Le Boutilier says population in the downtown core is declining by up to six per cent, but rising in the outlying areas at 28 per cent – one of the fastest rates in the country.
He says sprawl is even compounding health issues such as rising obesity rates for residents of the outlying areas.
“What we do is we have to drive down to the mall to get a quart of milk,” he said. “We’re totally vehicle-reliant, whereas in town, people walk to stuff.”
The alliance says it’s very concerned about increasing commute times, the exodus from the downtown core and the loss of green space to commercial development.
The group is calling for a re-investment in vibrant business centres and a more robust public transit system.
