[IanWatson]

Centre Plan basically does away with density bonusing. There are no “pre-bonus” and “post-bonus” heights like there were in the Downtown Halifax Plan. Instead, there’s a affordable housing tax (they still call it “bonusing” because that’s the wording the Halifax Charter uses) on all buildings that are larger than 2,000 square metres. The money goes into a fund that the city will use to support affordable housing initiatives.

Affordable housing was also an eligible density bonus category under the Downtown Halifax Plan, but it never got used because there was no mechanism to enforce it. Nor can HRM require affordable units to be built as part of a development (so called “inclusionary zoning”); it doesn’t have the legislative authority under the Halifax Charter.

But to bring it back to the Mills site: this proposal is within the Downtown Halifax Plan area, not Centre Plan (yet). So the developer proposes the category(ies) that they want to use for density bonusing and then the DRC can agree or recommend something different, but ultimately Council votes on the density bonus agreement (because it’s a contract and only Council can sign contracts). Council does not vote on the overall project.