Coming to council: Scotiabank Centre video improvements, community boundaries and developments

Regional council meets again this upcoming Tuesday for what looks to be a long day in the council chambers. Here's a look at a few things HRM's municipal representatives will be discussing.

Contract awarded for Scotiabank Centre video improvements

Regional councillors will see a recommendation from city staff to award the contract for replacing the video production control room at Scotiabank Centre to Matrix Video Communications Corp.

The replacement work is part of a series of upgrades the municipality is performing on the arena. Those improvements include everything from a new ice slab to work on washrooms to a new scoreboard – although it's still not clear who's going to do that last job.

A staff report says Scotiabank Centre's video production facilities are in dire of an upgrade. The control room is only capable of recording in SD, despite incremental improvements that have been added over the years.

The work Matrix will do will ensure the arena can record full HD video, and will bring the production up to current day broadcast standards.

These improvements are scheduled to begin shortly after council approves the awarding of the contract, and are expected to be complete by the end of September.

The company scored a 96.5 out of 100, according to a list of criteria laid out by staff.

The contract will be worth just over $1.25 million.

Official boundaries for some HRM communities

Some communities that have long been a part of the Halifax Regional Municipality could have official boundaries by the time Tuesday's meeting wraps up: Cole Harbour, Eastern Passage, Cow Bay, Shearwater and Westphal.

Although those communities are all well-established, the staff report says boundaries – which roads create a border for the communities – have not all been legally established.

Those five areas are a handful of 15 communities still awaiting this official designation. Since 2002, 185 of a total 200 have been had boundaries legally marked.

The decision-making process included preliminary research to determine where the boundaries should be, and if they needed to be changed from where they're currently located. For example, staff say deeds provided evidence that southern portions of Ross Rd. may be in Cole Harbour, rather than Westphal. After some community consultation, staff are recommending no change is made.

Staff also say currently, Canada Post uses Dartmouth instead of Cole Harbour for streets that should, in fact, be identified as existing in the community of Cole Harbour. The crown corporation has agreed to update mailing records after council approves the boundaries, which will mean a change to 90 per cent of streets in Cole Harbour.

Signs required to identify communities at new boundaries will cost $14,000 according to staff – 10 will be needed, at a cost of $200 per sign and $1,200 for installation of each sign.

New developments

Council will take an initial look at three developments that would require changes to the municipal planning strategy and the peninsula land-use by-law.

The first is for a proposed eight storey plus penthouse development on Wellington St. in the South End. The proposal has already passed Halifax and West Community Council, along with a recommendation that regional council offer its blessing to move forward to public consultation.

It's a similar story for a hopeful development on Agricola St. This would be a five storey building, again with a penthouse.

Lastly, council will give first reading to a development proposed for Quinpool Rd. and Pepperell St. near Preston St. This would be a nine storey building.

All of these areas will eventually be subject to Halifax's long-discussed Centre Plan, which will provide a framework for developments in the core of Halifax and Dartmouth.