HRM by Design to be expanded

 The same urban planning philosophies that led to the downtown-based HRMbyDesign plan are about to get a much wider application.
Council has approved a new initiative of the HRMbyDesign, called the Centre Plan, which will take the strategies used in the downtown core and apply them to all of peninsular Halifax and Dartmouth within the Circumferential Highway.
“We’re taking that ethos and we would like to introduce it into other neighbourhoods as well,” said Urban Design Project Manager Andy Fillmore. “Every neighbourhood has its challenges with inappropriately-scaled buildings being built there, and we want to give neighbourhoods clarity and predictability about what can and cannot be built there.”
Fillmore explained that part of the plan is to replace two separate advisory groups with one larger body that will interact with council.
“The creation of the Community Design Advisory Committee is to help the community communicate to council what their aspirations are,” he said. “This new committee will also help us to design a new public engagement strategy that will ensure that we have that authentic engagement with the community.”
Council also decided to begin a year-long review of the 25-year Regional Master Plan. The city is five years into the plan, and the review will focus on four themes: sustainable solutions, improved suburban and urban design, coordinated land-use and transit planning and enhancing the Regional Centre.