Skyline Pics of Halifax

[ns_kid]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

Makes me wonder if a parkade could be built to accommodate Dockyard parking, and the rail ROW reclaimed in the future for commuter rail use.

I’ve offered the contention here before — I haven’t been able to verify one way or the other — that when the rails came up in the 70s it was with the condition the railway right of way had to be preserved intact. And in fact it remains for all intents and purposes, from the present end-of-track at the CN intermodal facility just off North Marginal Road, occupied entirely by roadways and parking lots. Even through the Irving shipyard property a strip wide enough for a traffic lane and parking space has been maintained below and parallel to Barrington Street.

I believe that should the municipality have the will to proceed with some form of rail transit this north corridor to the city centre is a viable option.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by ns_kid

I’ve offered the contention here before — I haven’t been able to verify one way or the other — that when the rails came up in the 70s it was with the condition the railway right of way had to be preserved intact. And in fact it remains for all intents and purposes, from the present end-of-track at the CN intermodal facility just off North Marginal Road, occupied entirely by roadways and parking lots. Even through the Irving shipyard property a strip wide enough for a traffic lane and parking space has been maintained below and parallel to Barrington Street.

I believe that should the municipality have the will to proceed with some form of rail transit this north corridor to the city centre is a viable option.

Very interesting. Let's hope that this can/will happen, though with the reconfiguring of Cogswell, now would be the perfect time to consider integrating transit for that location.

[q12]

https://twitter.com/erika_proctor/status/1144346309119422468

[someone123]

Click for more:


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[pblaauw]

Great shot. They started taking down the other crane Tuesday night.

[q12]

https://twitter.com/johnsha09762538/status/1154883859680567296/photo/1

[someone123]

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[worldlyhaligonian]

Queen's Marque turned out really well.

It is such a shame that the Centre plan will impose arbitrary height limits to the north of downtown. It is as if the anti-development crowd knew that if they kept referring to the Cogswell site as the 'place for tall buildings'... it would prevent height downtown and the Cogswell limits would be legislated into effect later on (thus preventing any real height on the peninsula).

Cogswell could easily have some 50+ story mixed use buildings to balance out the skyline. Instead, we will continue to have random height all over the HRM and continued low-rise sprawl, thus leading to more traffic, stress on the transit system and costs to everyone.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by someone123

Source[/URL]

This photo really makes the tabletop effect very obvious.

These ridiculous height limits are now going to be in effect for generations once the damn Centre Plan becomes enshrined in regulation. Such a shame. The wannabe planners on Council deserve to be kicked to the curb next election.

[905er]

i absolutely love these Halifax pics.. I have yet to visit, but for some strange reason I feel like it's the city for me.. I wish to move there some day... I've had enough of Ontario and the GTA....i'm a city, boy, but a small city boy.. Any Haligonians have any advice for someone wishing to move to Halifax? what's life out there like?? spare me the winter details.. i'm already sadly aware, they're brutal.

[TheGreenBastard]

Originally Posted by 905er

i absolutely love these Halifax pics.. I have yet to visit, but for some strange reason I feel like it's the city for me.. I wish to move there some day... I've had enough of Ontario and the GTA....i'm a city, boy, but a small city boy.. Any Haligonians have any advice for someone wishing to move to Halifax? what's life out there like?? spare me the winter details.. i'm already sadly aware, they're brutal.

Hey there,

Halifax is a wonderful city. It has roughly the population of London, ON, to give some perspective, but it *feels* like a bigger city.

There are plenty of threads on the Halifax subreddit with information on moving to Halifax. And unsurprisingly, a lot of them are coming from Toronto/Ontario.

Good luck!

[someone123]

Originally Posted by 905er

Any Haligonians have any advice for someone wishing to move to Halifax? what's life out there like?? spare me the winter details.. i'm already sadly aware, they're brutal.

Halifax winters aren't brutal by Canadian standards. They're slightly better than Toronto's. Lots of bright sunny mid-winter days and high temperatures average a bit above 0. People will tell you about the constant snow storms but Environment Canada doesn't lie and they say Halifax gets 0.6 storms of 25 cm or more per year.

I don't know where the brutal winter idea came from. I have heard so many people talk about Halifax like it has Edmonton or Quebec City style winters. I think it is the news reporting; if there is a snowstorm in Atlantic Canada the misery is sure to be reported. But most of those storms don't hit Halifax and the media never report on average boring weather. In any case I don't think Canadians moving to Halifax should generally feel like the weather there is a big drawback they should have to worry about.

[OldDartmouthMark]

To put it into perspective, the winters in Halifax are relatively mild, but when we get storms they can be significant, often due to storm systems coming up from the eastern seaboard. So we can have pretty intense winter storms that dump a lot of snow combined with fairly severe winds, and often they switch to rain near the end, and then it all freezes up when the temperature drops post-storm.

That's the bad news.

The good news is that they are usually few and far between, and often the weather warms up and melts a bunch of it within a week or so.

Honestly, describing winter weather in Halifax is not an easy thing to do, as it is so variable (perhaps not unlike weather everywhere else). We have had winters when I literally only shovelled the driveway twice all winter, and then we've had winters where there was nowhere left to pile the snow. This past winter had some moderate storms with a lot of nice clear weather in between, but there was a lot of ice around that delayed plant growth by about 3 weeks. Overall, winters are not really bad here.

Another great thing not mentioned here (probably because this forum is mostly populated by urbanists), is that there are great places to do day trips from Halifax that are mostly just an hour or two away, but have very diverse experiences. You can travel to a Unesco Heritage site - Lunenburg, an old town famous for shipbuilding (The Bluenose) and fishing, that is just a wonderful place to walk around, enjoy fantastic restaurants and check out the old wooden buildings, or just sit on a deck and take in the view of Lunenburg harbour. Just an hour away.

Or, you can go to the Annapolis valley, the main agricultural area of the province and enjoy the beautiful scenery, sample wine at some of the 20 or so wineries that are in the province (if you are into that), and just have some chill time in some of the small towns that dot the landscape. Also, just an hour away.

Go a little further, to the Digby area, and enjoy some of the freshest seafood that you will ever have (they are famous for their scallops), and again take in the views, etc.

Then there's other towns on the Bay of Fundy, like Parrsboro, well known for fossils being unearthed but also just a pretty little town.

There are so many nice spots it's hard to mention them all. And the beauty is that you don't have to spend 3 hours sitting in bumper to bumper traffic (i.e. the QEW on a weekend) to get there.

Then, if you want to go a little further, 4 hours away is Cape Breton and the Cabot Trail, which is like a mini Scotland. A few hours and a crossing over the Confederation Bridge will get you to PEI.

Etc. etc.

So when you want to enjoy city life you stay in Halifax with all it has to offer, and if you want a break from the city, slower-paced relaxing times are not very far away.

Do some research before you decide, but I love it here and don't ever plan to live anywhere else. Once you are here for awhile, the ocean gets into your blood, and you never want to live without it....

[someone123]

I had a look at winter 2019 (Dec-Feb). At the airport, there were only 3 days with 10 or more cm of snow on the ground recorded (4"). At the Halifax Dockyard weather station, the coldest overnight low during the season was about -13. The average high was +1 (which is below normal).

If you are used to San Diego this is very cold. For most Canadians, it is mild. IMO Halifax has a weird PR problem when it comes to weather, with most Canadians thinking it's much worse than it is.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

Honestly, describing winter weather in Halifax is not an easy thing to do, as it is so variable (perhaps not unlike weather everywhere else). We have had winters when I literally only shovelled the driveway twice all winter, and then we've had winters where there was nowhere left to pile the snow. This past winter had some moderate storms with a lot of nice clear weather in between, but there was a lot of ice around that delayed plant growth by about 3 weeks. Overall, winters are not really bad here.

The worst part about winters here is that they often start early in November and last until May. The city is gray and brown when it is not white during that time and not very appealing.

Also, spring tends to be close to nonexistent some years.

[Haliguy]

Originally Posted by someone123

I had a look at winter 2019 (Dec-Feb). At the airport, there were only 3 days with 10 or more cm of snow on the ground recorded (4"). At the Halifax Dockyard weather station, the coldest overnight low during the season was about -13. The average high was +1 (which is below normal).

If you are used to San Diego this is very cold. For most Canadians, it is mild. IMO Halifax has a weird PR problem when it comes to weather, with most Canadians thinking it's much worse than it is.

I agree, when I talk to people from other parts of the Canada they always have a view of it being colder here. When in actual fact it's warmer than most parts of the country in the winter. Also, winter usually starts later here.

[davedavedave123]

I just lived in Ottawa for a year and almost universally people were shocked that it was colder in Ottawa than Halifax in the winter. I think maybe it is because they see it as more isolated? Or they are in denial about how extreme their weather it?

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by someone123

I had a look at winter 2019 (Dec-Feb). At the airport, there were only 3 days with 10 or more cm of snow on the ground recorded (4"). At the Halifax Dockyard weather station, the coldest overnight low during the season was about -13. The average high was +1 (which is below normal).

If you are used to San Diego this is very cold. For most Canadians, it is mild. IMO Halifax has a weird PR problem when it comes to weather, with most Canadians thinking it's much worse than it is.

Data is great, but it doesn't always translate well to the human experience.

Additionally, using the Halifax Dockyard as the temperature standard can be a little misleading due to its proximity to the harbour, which typically doesn't drop much below freezing temp, and certainly is warmer than air temperatures inland.

I'm curious... when you lived in Halifax, did you think of the winters as being mild?

[someone123]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

I'm curious... when you lived in Halifax, did you think of the winters as being mild?

I would rather not have winters at all or maybe live in a San Francisco like climate with a slight cool season. But we live in Canada; often a move to a city with great weather is not on the table. I was responding to 905er who was talking about relocating to Halifax from the GTA. I've lived in Toronto too and spent lots of time there during all seasons. I wouldn't consider the climactic difference to be a big factor if I were choosing between them, and I think I prefer Halifax's climate overall of the two (I'm not a fan of hot summers and AC). Yet most Canadians would assume something very different.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by someone123

I would rather not have winters at all or maybe live in a San Francisco like climate with a slight cool season. But we live in Canada; often a move to a city with great weather is not on the table. I was responding to 905er who was talking about relocating to Halifax from the GTA. I've lived in Toronto too and spent lots of time there during all seasons. I wouldn't consider the climactic difference to be a big factor if I were choosing between them, and I think I prefer Halifax's climate overall of the two (I'm not a fan of hot summers and AC). Yet most Canadians would assume something very different.

Yes, I don't disagree. Canada's winters (or weather overall) is as diverse as its landscapes, each with its good and bad points.

All I was saying is that I wouldn't sell Halifax as having a Vancouver-like climate, even though you could look at temperature data and they might not seem all that different.

Halifax winters are not as bad as some people appear to think they are, but they are no walk in the park either.