Skyscraper project cleared for public consultation
Posted Feb 22, 2012 05:29:09 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The public will get to weigh in on a pair of skyscrapers proposed for the downtown core.
Regional council has voted 14-6 in favour of sending ‘Skye Halifax’ to public consultation.
A report from HRM staff recommended rejecting the project, noting the 48-storey towers are far taller than permitted under current height regulations.
The report suggested that even the small step of moving the development ahead to public consultation would undermine the municipality’s commitment to the HRM By Design plan.
However, several councillors said taxpayers have the right to offer their opinion on a development that could change the face of the downtown core.
“I guess if you’re not willing to build tall buildings downtown, where are you going to build them?” said Coun. Darren Fisher (East Dartmouth – The Lakes). “Let’s ask the public if they’re ready for this, see if they’re prepared to move forward on something like this, let’s ask them.”
Coun. David Hendsbee (Preston-Lawrencetown-Chezzetcook) noted the economic climate has shifted even in the brief time since HRM By Design was approved, and said Skye Halifax is an ideal fit for the downtown core.
“It has urbanization, densification, revitalization,” he said. “Those should be three ticks in support of it and not three strikes against it.”
But opponents, like Coun. Bob Harvey (Lower Sackville), pointed out that HRM By Design was based on extensive public consultation.
“A lot of hours, a lot of days, a lot of years were spent on HRM by Design,” he said. “It was supposed to be the end of the height debate, because we knew everywhere exactly what the heights were at certain locations.”
Coun. Dawn Sloane (Halifax Downtown) agreed that moving the development to a public consultation was redundant and posed a serious threat to the integrity of the HRM By Design plan.
“We’re here today looking at a building that is contravening the essence of what thousands of people spent many, many hours working on,” she argued.
United Gulf originally obtained a development permit for two 27-storey towers, known as the “Twisted Sisters,” to be built on the former TexPark site on Granville Street. The height of the buildings generated controversy from heritage advocates, who appealed – unsuccessfully – to the Utility and Review Board to have the permit denied.
However, the permit lapsed in 2010, and United Gulf responded with the proposal for Skye Halifax.
