Back in 2011/12 when this came before them, the Design Review Committee turned their nose up at it because the requested height was almost double that which was carved in stone by HRM by Design, which, as we have come to learn, is a document that panders excessively to the heritage activists. Their rationale, such as it is, can be seen here:
http://legacycontent.halifax.ca/council/agendasc/documents/120228ca1014ii.pdf
Fortunately when it came to Council, the YMCA had marshaled the troops and had a long and impressive list of speakers supporting it. The only ones opposing were the usual suspects: the Paceys, Peter Delefes, Alan Parish, Bev Miller, and Alan Ruffman. Unusually, it passed Council with a unanimous vote in favor.
http://legacycontent.halifax.ca/council/documents/c120320.pdf
To show how convoluted the rules can be, a setback requirement that applied to the site was only discovered after design and approvals were already well along.
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