General Updates and News

[worldlyhaligonian]

Originally Posted by someone123

The green or public space argument does not hold much water for the St. Pat's site. The Commons are right next door. This part of town has some of the best access to outdoor public space and historically it's been underused and poorly developed.

Recently there was that population chart showing that the peninsula has lost considerable population since the 50's peak. Adding 30,000 people would only be a return to the 1950 era population (maybe a bit higher but that 30,000 includes Dartmouth so it could be lower). The idea that there is a general shortage of public space and the city should be aggressively adding more wherever possible is not compelling.

There might be narrow demands for more space, particular parts of town missing particular amenities (e.g. playground is a 20 minute walk away so it would be good to add a new one somewhere), but we don't hear so much about those specific complaints and they are generally not applicable to the southern half of the peninsula, which is one of the nicest parts of the country for parks.

Cogswell park, severely underdeveloped, is right across the street.

[Good Baklava]

I don’t remember Peggy ever giving one statistic about Halifax’s green space. She frequently brings up the area per resident argument without saying how Halifax compares to any recommended average. If she bothered to look at which districts lack green space, she would come to the realization her group has been neglecting those most in need of improved parks. Talk about privilege...

A problem with the area-to-person ratio is that it fails to measure how accessible these green spaces are.

I’m all for urban gardens, just not Cameron’s brand of urban garden.

[Citizen_Bane]

Nice to see some progress on the waterfront boardwalk.

Pier 1 by Citizen Bane, on Flickr

Pier 2 by Citizen Bane, on Flickr

[Dmajackson]

Small new project for 6459 Bayers Road (northside between Oxford and Connolly). It's 5 floors and 8 units.

Case 23161

[ns_kid]

Originally Posted by Dmajackson

Small new project for 6459 Bayers Road (northside between Oxford and Connolly). It's 5 floors and 8 units.

Case 23161

I don't know that there's any strength to the appeal. But, man, that proposed building is ugly, in my opinion. That will stand out like a sore thumb on a block of modest one and two-storey homes. Was the architect aiming to emulate a old Jacob Street tenement?

[Saul Goode]

Originally Posted by ns_kid

Was the architect aiming to emulate a old Jacob Street tenement?

I think that comment nails it. Looks like a cheap reproduction of the way I remember Halifax as a young kid - which I don't mean as a compliment.

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by ns_kid

I don't know that there's any strength to the appeal. But, man, that proposed building is ugly, in my opinion. That will stand out like a sore thumb on a block of modest one and two-storey homes. Was the architect aiming to emulate a old Jacob Street tenement?

I have to disagree--I think this is exactly the scale of intensification we should be seeing on some residential streets. Small enough not to overwhelm but big enough to make a real difference in local density (if replicated often enough).

The problem for me is just how obviously tacky and cheap this will look, covered in Hardieplank, and that awful ubiquitous metal siding used on everything now.

[Corker]

Originally Posted by ns_kid

I don't know that there's any strength to the appeal. But, man, that proposed building is ugly, in my opinion. That will stand out like a sore thumb on a block of modest one and two-storey homes.

While at the moment it is a block of one and two storey homes, it is directly across the street from the six storey Bayers & Young project, for which demolition is now underway, and there are several other projects proposed for this strip of Bayers Road between Connaught and Windsor.

[Dmajackson]

Drove by 6459 Bayers today and the house is gone and the demolition fencing remains.

[atbw]

Originally Posted by Drybrain

I have to disagree--I think this is exactly the scale of intensification we should be seeing on some residential streets. Small enough not to overwhelm but big enough to make a real difference in local density (if replicated often enough).

The problem for me is just how obviously tacky and cheap this will look, covered in Hardieplank, and that awful ubiquitous metal siding used on everything now.

I agree. No problem with the size. This looks like something that was designed in the Sims, though.

[MeEtc]

Multiple buildings at corner of Robie and May have had utilities cut, demolition will likely start soon. Talked to the owner of the barbershop, says he has to be gone by Saturday this week.









Photos taken today, February 24. Click for high-res.

[MeEtc]

Originally Posted by RoshanMcG

This is going to be the North End Animal Hospital by the owners of Eastern Passage Village Veterinary Hospital, and East Hants Animal Hospital.

Construction is progressing.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by MeEtc

Multiple buildings at corner of Robie and May have had utilities cut, demolition will likely start soon. Talked to the owner of the barbershop, says he has to be gone by Saturday this week.

Yikes. I didn't know that side of the street was going too. Is this a separate site or just more parking for the car dealer across the street?

Once these fine-grained historic areas are gone they're gone. 3/4 of Halifax is car-oriented suburbia. This makes little sense from a planning or public good perspective. Farther down this block, the Bloomfield site continues to crumble.

[midasmull]

Originally Posted by someone123

Yikes. I didn't know that side of the street was going too. Is this a separate site or just more parking for the car dealer across the street?

Once these fine-grained historic areas are gone they're gone. 3/4 of Halifax is car-oriented suburbia. This makes little sense from a planning or public good perspective. Farther down this block, the Bloomfield site continues to crumble.

That's a separate site - the large, cleared lot behind are owned by the same company so it's presumably going to be a contiguous development stretching from (but not including) Coastal Cafe to the intersection of May St and Fern Lane.

[MeEtc]

Originally Posted by someone123

Yikes. I didn't know that side of the street was going too. Is this a separate site or just more parking for the car dealer across the street?

Once these fine-grained historic areas are gone they're gone. 3/4 of Halifax is car-oriented suburbia. This makes little sense from a planning or public good perspective. Farther down this block, the Bloomfield site continues to crumble.

I read somewhere that the centre plan explicitly states that existing buildings cannot be bulldozed to make way for parking lots/structures.

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by someone123

Once these fine-grained historic areas are gone they're gone. 3/4 of Halifax is car-oriented suburbia. This makes little sense from a planning or public good perspective. Farther down this block, the Bloomfield site continues to crumble.

Yes, it's really frustrating. But yeah, as others said, I'm pretty certain this has nothing to do with Steele, and the owner of this property has previously said this will be a development, not a parking lot. It is a little upsetting to see this great little row of houses knocked down, but hopefully whatever is built compensates for the loss.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by Drybrain

Yes, it's really frustrating. But yeah, as others said, I'm pretty certain this has nothing to do with Steele, and the owner of this property has previously said this will be a development, not a parking lot. It is a little upsetting to see this great little row of houses knocked down, but hopefully whatever is built compensates for the loss.

It's a shame, as the ones on May St. appear to be generally well-kept and even detailed, though likely needing a refresh. I've been in the large grey one on Robie, as it used to house a business, and I can say that it was in somewhat of a state of disrepair with little of its original details left. IIRC, the staircase wasn't even level anymore, so it would have required a lot of work that there probably wasn't an appetite for in Halifax.

I agree with someone123 in that these fine grained historic neighbourhoods are slowly being chipped away from and once they are gone they are gone. For me, the sad part is that I can be 99% sure that it won't be replaced with (in my view) good/interesting architecture (I hope they prove me wrong). So even though it won't be another parking lot I don't see it as a huge improvement for the character of the city. There will be a functional improvement for population density, though.

I suppose as long as the low vacancy rate combined with the growing population creates a supply/demand imbalance, we will continue to see the smaller, cheaper heritage properties being razed to create apartment/condo buildings. And, as long as it's easy to do in Halifax, it will be business as usual.

[Keith P.]

One hopes that the development plans sent to HRM for approval came back with a requirement to allow some setback from Robie, since that stretch is the bottleneck preventing any meaningful upgrades to the street.

[MeEtc]

Viewpoint shows the five properties facing May st were sold collectively in 2019 for a cool $3.5 million

[someone123]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

I agree with someone123 in that these fine grained historic neighbourhoods are slowly being chipped away from and once they are gone they are gone. For me, the sad part is that I can be 99% sure that it won't be replaced with (in my view) good/interesting architecture (I hope they prove me wrong). So even though it won't be another parking lot I don't see it as a huge improvement for the character of the city. There will be a functional improvement for population density, though.

These areas are not just being chipped away, they are mostly gone already, and the question is whether to save 40% of the stock or 30% and then have that dwindle to 20%. Halifax has done a remarkably poor job of heritage preservation given how historic it is. It is probably the worst city in Canada for losses of rare and unusually old buildings. I suspect it has bulldozed more Georgian era buildings than any other city in Canada. May Street is not so distinctive but it was a delightful little intrusion of fine-grained heritage buildings into what's otherwise a huge blob of giant underused lots. I am skeptical that Bloomfield's buildings will be preserved either.