Quote:
Originally Posted by ns_kid
The province has done a pretty good job of maintaining their QEII redevelopment website since they launched it in the spring of 2016:
https://healthredevelopment.novascotia.ca/qe2
The website doesn't say much about parking specifically. I know that an earlier concept proposed expanding the existing parkade at the Infirmary, but it appears that was either determined to be unfeasible, or the site better suited to other uses. In addition to the expansion of the existing Infirmary building there will be at least two new buildings at the site: the new outpatient clinic/eye centre and the new cancer centre. There are links on the site to the full master planning documents although, oddly, they don't seem to have been updated since the decision was made to move the cancer centre from the Dickson Building to the Infirmary. At least one of the new buildings will be on the site of the former CBC building, which I think is due to come down in February, but I don't believe they've announced publicly what will be there.
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Thanks for that link, it gave me much more info than I had. Communication of all this to the public has been bungled terribly. But perhaps there is a good reason for that. This thing seems to be very much inwardly-driven, with little to no consideration of patient/client needs.
Go here for the latest detailed planning document:
https://healthredevelopment.novascot...compressed.pdf
Since the discussion here is about parking, I looked for references to that. It is a bit scary. The document is confusing but I note a few things:
- It does mention decommissioning of the existing parkade. But incredibly, it suggests it be relocated to the VG site! Why/how that would be necessary remains unexplained. It makes zero sense to relocate it there, obviously.
- It foresees absolutely no development beyond the existing block boundaries of Bell Rd, Summer St, Jubilee Rd and Robie St. This new parkade is not mentioned anywhere.
- A new building on the site of the existing parkade is shown as having one level of parking for less than 100 vehicles. It clearly is not public parking and would likely be for staff/internal use, although this is unsaid.
- What is presumably a second phase of redevelopment (more later) shows a building on the former QEH site at the corner of the Willow Tree intersection. That development has 3 levels of parking proposed so there would eventually be some public parking there.
Where it gets totally confusing is that it talks at length that phase 1 is redevelopment of the old CBC site plus removal of the existing parkade for a new building there. In that discussion it makes zero mention of parking aside from removal of the existing structure. It just is brushed aside. How this is even possible is a mystery. How can the services continue to be delivered if there is no place for patients to park? It is like those involved - legions of health and govt bureaucrats if you read the first few pages outlining the army of people with a hand in this - simply ignored that reality. But they did find time to discuss keeping the old farm site as green space during this phase as if that was somehow an important consideration.
I conclude a couple of things. Someone finally woke up and realized that phase 1 without any parking was not going to work, so the announcement of this new parkade this week - something never mentioned in these documents - was a last-minute emergency reaction to that. That's why it is so poorly located, because it is the only existing PNS property available. How this was missed raises serious questions about the remainder of the redevelopment plan, though I clearly do not have the background to assess that. But it is very worrying.
My second conclusion is more straightforward. The emphasis on keeping the farm site as green space during phase 1 is completely misguided. That area is not highly used or valued as green space and being adjacent to the common, green space is in ample supply already. In phase 2, whenever that eventually occurs, 3 levels of parking are proposed in the basement of the new structure there. But that seems many years in the future. It would make far more sense to build that now with provision for development above at a later date, and keep adjacent parking available rather than spending $30 million or more on a parkade that will eventually become either staff parking or a Wanderers Grounds parking structure.
I am very concerned that the needs of patients both during this lengthy construction and after it is finally completed have not been taken into account. The document seems to be totally focused on the needs/wants of those involved internally. The lack of any outside voices that could speak to patient needs during all this are totally missing from the list of those involved. This is a huge mistake.