Residents weigh in on controversial twin tower development
Posted May 4, 2012 06:40:16 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A public consultation session on the proposed 48-storey twin towers in downtown Halifax drew a healthy crowd, with supporters and opponents evenly represented.
The ‘Skye Halifax’ development would include about 400 residential, commercial and hotel units.
Supporters for the project who spoke at the public meeting on Thursday evening said that is exactly what the downtown core needs.
Opponents say that’s not the point – the buildings are more than twice the height allowed under the HRM by Design rules for the downtown core.
Before the meeting, Downtown Halifax Business Commission executive director Paul MacKinnon told News 95.7 that approving the project would undermine HRM by Design, which was conceived to provide clarity and consistency about growth in the downtown core.
“It tells you, ‘Okay, I know that there can be a 10-storey building built there, or a 15-building storey built there, or a six-storey building built there,’ and these weren’t just pulled out of the air,” he said. “This was a result again of the city’s public consultation.”
In February, the city recommended council not allow the project to proceed because of the building height, but council voted to let the public weigh in.
“There’s no area in the downtown plan that allows for that kind of height,” said MacKinnon. “In that particular location what the plan calls for is it says that 20 stories is an appropriate maximum height. So that is, you can build smaller than that if you want to, but you can build up to 20 stories.”
HRM by Design includes a clause that allows exemptions if a development provides significant cultural and economic benefit to the municipality. The clause was used earlier this year to provide an exemption for a new YMCA facility at the corner of South Park and Sackville Streets.
Comments from Thursday’s meeting will be compiled and be handed over to council before the final vote on the development.
