[spaustin]

I was there. Haliguy summed it up fairly well. The room was fairly evenly split between the developers and their family clan, heritage trust and their allies and the students/residents who live in the building. I was surprised that even people in the building spoke in favour of it... but then again its not a place that many of us envision staying in for long! Myself, I'm fine with the project but I'm really angry at how this process has been handled. This is my first time on the other side of the planning process and the amount of consideration given to notifying tenants is ridiculous.

1. The developer held a public meeting at the superstore and invited the whole neighbourhood except his tenants
2. No notice to anyone in the building from HRM because HRM only notifies property owners (aren't the days of needing to own property to pariticipate over?)
3. The sign that finally went up on the building says the building will be redeveloped. What is redeveloped? To the public that could mean refurbished or added onto, it doesn't indicate the reality the way demolish does.
4. The sign doesn't give the HRM website or indicate that there is going to be a public meeting followed by a hearing, it just says there is a proposal and gives the planners number.
5. The sign is located on the Morris Street side away from where people would easily notice it.

All and all the developer behaved as I would expect (tenants would be the natural source of resistence) and the city has dropped the ball. Really, if this is HRM's policy, what's the point of having a public process in a neighbourhood like mine when most people in it are renters? Funnily enough, an HRM newsletter was waiting for me when I got home today. That seems to find my mailbox alright but letting me know that my mailbox might get torn down is beyond their powers it would seem.