Condo site slated for recreation since 1972, HRM documents show
Developer, city at odds over downtown property
By CHRIS LAMBIE Business Editor
Tue. May 11 - 8:19 AM
A Barrington Street property where developer Peter Polley wants to build condominiums has been earmarked for recreation since 1972, according to court documents filed by Halifax Regional Municipality.
Polley’s proposed $15-million, 63-unit condominium project on Barrington Street has been stalled for months as he fights with the city over whether the empty lot is supposed to be a playground for the adjacent Ocean Towers on Brunswick Street.
“There has never been another, or later, approved usage of the property, and it remains restricted from development under its current designation," state new documents filed in the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia.
Polley had taken his case to the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board, but then his company, Polycorp Properties Inc. , and the city decided their battle was better suited to the courtroom.
The plan for the two buildings, now known as Ocean Towers, was filed with the registry of deeds on July 4, 1972, state court documents.
It identifies the land in question as “an open-space recreational area," documents filed by the city state.
The plan was approved by the former Halifax city council, according to court documents. “There was no legislative provision requiring Halifax City to register the said agreement, or necessitating a formal development agreement." Polley paid $1.275 million for the lot last April. He has said he performed several checks to make sure it was zoned for highdensity development before making the purchase.
But court documents indicate the city “has no knowledge of an inquiry with respect to special development restrictions."
After Polley made the purchase, a development officer with the city ruled the project, dubbed Jazz Condominiums, could not go ahead because the land is supposed to be a playground.
An affidavit sworn by Paul Dunphy, the city’s director of community development, said the property “was identified as early as 1945 as part of an area in need of urban renewal."
The former City of Halifax and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation entered into an agreement with Barrington Developments Ltd. in 1970 to construct a housing project on Barrington Street, Dunphy says in his affidavit. “It is expected that any proposals received will provide an adequate amount of recreation space," according to an excerpt from a Nov. 27, 1969, city council meeting contained in Dunphy’s affidavit.
The agreement with Barrington Developments “does not appear to have been registered at the Registry (of Deeds), but ‘was simply placed on the file,’ " states Dunphy’s affidavit.
There was no requirement the agreement be registered with the land titles office, Dunphy says.
But he also mentions that the city has applied to the registrar general of land titles “for a correction in this parcel registration, on the basis that the statutory declarations were inadequate."
Polley bought the empty lot from DDP-Brunswick Ltd. That company is related to Mississauga, Ont.-based TransGlobe Property Management Ser vices Ltd. , which owns the adjacent Ocean Towers.
But TransGlobe didn’t build the towers and they’ve been owned by several entities since they went up 40 years ago.
Polycorp built the nearby 85-unit Spice Condominiums and the Mont Blanc, which consists of almost 200 apartments and townhouses on Mont Blanc Terrace. It is also working on a 76-house development called Ravenscraig in Fleming Heights.
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