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Originally Posted by someone123
I think this demonstrates just how awful the heritage preservation movement in Halifax has been. For years their mantra was that low height limits would prevent demolition, because the developers would have less to gain from tearing down and building up. Yet here is a site with a low height limit where heritage buildings are being demolished anyway.
The height limits arguably make this worse because they reduce the margins developers have to work with. Imagine if the developer had been allowed to built a 20 storey point tower in exchange for preserving the former Maritime Life building in place and preserving the building materials of the Victorian rowhouses for use elsewhere in the city. That would have been a win-win for everybody compared to the current scenario; even the views from the library and Citadel would have been better preserved.
Halifax needs much stronger heritage preservation rules, including discretionary rules that apply beyond officially registered buildings, and density bonuses for heritage preservation, so that developers actually have an incentive to work with the old buildings.
The city also needs to lose its obsession over building heights. The peninsula needs more density and sometimes slender tall buildings are the right answer. There are too many stubby, massive buildings encouraged by blanket anti-height rules.
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Couldn't agree more.
The Heritage Foundation has evolved, over time, into just a NIMBY organization, opposing even socially salutatory social housing (like the development in the north end). I see zero interest in their end on actual heritage preservation. Their only concern is opposing development and enforcing height limits, which, as you say, actually hurts heritage in cases like this.
Disband the Heritage Foundation. What an utter failure.