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Originally Posted by fenwick16
Not to beat a dead horse here, but this has nothing to do with being a conspiracy theory but has to do with bitterness of watching HRM news for the past 4 decades and realizing that heritage is given top billing over pro-development and jobs. For some, this is considered to be important. I also see the importance of keeping historic sites in Halifax but I realize that Halifax is not as pro-development as locations such as Toronto, Montreal Calgary, etc. These other locations put development and jobs first at times to the detriment of having a livable city (which Halifax certainly is). However, I would like to see more of a balance so that proposing low height buildings on deserted urban sites doesn't become a priority. In my opinion, having a mix of shorter old buildings and taller new buildings makes Halifax a more interesting city.
Halifax can never be a Quebec city (since it is not French, is not as old and doesn't have as many historic buildings), but it can be a somewhat British style city on a continent of ultra modern cities (I see this as being a positive, not a negative). As long as it doesn't go too far.
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I think much of the problem has to do with the capacity of council to thoughtfully and critically address development scenarios as they arise. Most councillors aren't planners, architects, engineers, etc. and don't fully grasp real estate development issues. And the planning department apparently fails to convey the issues to them in a clear way. They are far too influenced by the perceptions of special interest groups and shouldn't be making a lot of these decisions. The final votes in the development process should not be councils' - it should be made by a well informed, somewhat objective planning department. Political influence in the process has to someway be reduced.
As far as HRMbyDesign goes - part of the problem is that it isn't really made for Halifax. The firm that produced it with the city, is a Toronto based firm that have produced near carbon copies for other cities, with a few changes here and there. The language used in it is hollow, and solutions proposed are just generic fixes really fail to address both the potential of Halifax, and the challenges. I still think it is an asset for the core (better than what was previously in place), but it is a deeply flawed document with little to no specifics.