Good news for Downtown Dartmouth! Harbour East Community Council approved the project this evening. There is one regulatory hurdle still to overcome though. The heritage designation for the Elliot House applies to not just the structure, but the entire lot. This includes the "historic" gravel parking lot around back. Since the developer plans to build on a portion of the Elliot House lot and since you can't have a building on two lots at once, he has to subdivide the Elliot House property and consolidate it with the rest of the block and apply to Regional Council to deregister the back section. Regional Council can only deregister a heritage property at a public hearing. A bit of a tangly process!

The Heritage Trust was there this evening with a lawyer from Pink Larkin alleging procedural issues with the way HRM has approached the approval of this project. They feel that the property should be delisted before considering the proposal and that staff should have looked at Policy CH-1 instead of CH-2 (one is for building adjacent to a heritage property while the other is for construction that directly affects a heritage property).

I find it really unfortunate that they seem to want to obstruct this project, because it's a big win for heritage preservation. The historic house on site is not only being retained, it's being retained as a stand-alone structure. It would have been very easy to have gone the other route of knocking it down or reducing it to just a facade. I don't think you can ask for more!

There is zero chance that Regional Council will refuse to remove the heritage designation so it would seem that legal action is the only real threat to this one. Hopefully it won't come to pass and we'll see construction soon.

The evidence continues to grow that the Heritage Trust has long ago lost any credible claim to being effective advocates for preservation. They have become simply an anti-development lobby and, if they had integrity, they would change their name to reflect that.

You'd be hard pressed to find a more vocal and ardent heritage-preservation advocate than me, and I wish the Heritage Trust would just go away forever. You're right; they're anti-development activists working in the guise of heritage protection. (Which, unfortunately, has created a context locally in which some Haligonians think that heritage protection IS anti-development by nature.)

For God's sake, they're actually seeking to remove a heritage designation. And I know for a fact that when Heritage Canada put the Dennis Building on their top ten endangered list this year, the HT encouraged them NOT to do so. "Don't make waves," or something like that. (I know people at Heritage Canada.)

Which is a real shame, because NS does have a lot of really great heritage that needs an advocate who works with communities instead of polarizing people against heritage. Would anyone here be interested in creating a group that fills that role?

I would. But I don't live in the city full-time (yet).

New rendering off of the project's website. :)

http://www.lotuspointliving.com/images/LotusPoint2.jpg
Source : lotuspointliving.com

Seems like a lot going on there. I am not sure if this is better than old rendering. Arriving in 2013 huh?

some of the sidewalk on the Ochterloney side of this project is being replaced, a sure sign that heavy construction vehicles must soon be arriving ;)

I'm not so sure, the entire block around the corner up Victoria Rd and Park Ave is being done with this as well or were you being facetious

it always seems the way that paving/sidewalk work gets done before construction, and then has to be redone after construction. There are some sidewalks in the area that are probably much worse. Seems a bit like setting up a yard sale when heavy rain is forecast.

Oy--I liked the old rendering a lot better. This looks like five entirely different buildings gracelessly slammed together. And that white-coloured portion facing Ochterloney looks like it'll be that cheap fake stone we see all over--and the slight overhang almost makes it look like a repurposed facade from a different building. Pretty bad, I think.

The wood accents are nice though--that's a cool trend in new buildings.

the website states that it arrives Fall 2015
http://www.borisholdings.com/NewDevelopments.htm

And the link to the property says 2013.
He has to de-register the heritage property first, then subdivide the property and then register the smaller lot and building as a heritage property.
And that means several trips to HAC and community council.
And at the same time he'll be facing competition from King's Wharf and other projects now under construction.
Staff tried an end run around the legislation and were warned by Heritage Trust.

driving by this morning I noted that they are removing the wood siding on the North East corner of the heritage building, Elliott House.

The developer has to apply to deregister the property as a Heritage property. The application was scheduled for discussion at the Heritage Advisory Committee (HAC) meeting on October 22 but the meeting was cancelled for reasons unknown. No new meeting date has been scheduled. After discussion at HAC it goes to council and then council must set a date for a public hearing.
I presume the developer is replacing the siding before winter and in anticipation of approval of the subdivision.

The wood siding is off the back and one side and partially replaced by house wrap and vertical strapping. Looks like getting ready to put siding vs shingles (hopes its 'Hardi' vs vinyl).

Walked by on the weekend and there is wood siding to go on the Elliott House. That's good news.

The rear lot was de-registered tonight. The DA was already approved so this project should be all clear now (or very soon) to go ahead with construction.

Yes I was there and spoke. The subdivision of the lot was registered prior to today which made the decision somewhat moot. Don't think that is the proper procedure but in HRM staff can get away with almost anything.
Did you watch the part where the man from Bedford tried to show the Council where he lived and the map that staff put on the overhead fell off ? Apparently staff and developers can use a powerpoint presentation but a citizen cannot.
And the Clerk is now apparently a skilled interpreter of the law. She certainly knows how to move the pea and not answer a question (from Cllr Watts).
It ain't over 'til it's over.

This project is going back to community council for some non-substantive amendments;

Case 20174 Details