Downtown development finally gets its due
Fourteen years after amalgamation, Hali fax regional council has been dragged, kicking and screaming into making a priority of what’s left of the downtown core.
It’s a pity that it took so long.
And while it’s not clear that a report approved by councillors on Tuesday is anything more than window-dressing, it at least provides hope and a potential vehicle for change.
The staff report calls for the creation of a decision-making body to deal with the downtown. It pulled no punches. It out lines the benefits a vibrant downtown core could bring to the entire region and warned of looming decline if no action is taken.
“Simply put, strategic urban invest ment creates regional prosperity," says the report. “A healthy urban core is the most powerful tool available for address ing the financial and environmental challenges facing all cities.
“A vital urban core creates the finan cial strength necessary to provide amen ities and services to all communities within a city region."
Council adopted the recommendations in the report, which include creating a group called the Strategic Urban Part nership that will include representatives from three levels of government, busi ness and other groups. The partnership will be tasked to “encourage" investment and development in urban initiatives.
But terms of reference for the group have yet to be drafted and it’s not clear how much clout it will have in terms of directing or making recommendations on spending decisions.
Getting Halifax regional council to at least endorse the partnership is a good first step, however. The staff report, filled with refreshingly blunt language, left very little political wiggle room for a regional government that has too often been divided by parochialism and local interests.
The result, in a region where down town councillors on both sides of the harbour have been heavily outnumbered by their suburban and rural counterparts, has been years of neglect. Boarded win dows, empty lots and an outmigration of residents are evident throughout what used to be known as “main" streets.
The Halifax region is hardly original in experiencing this situation. The regional core — which the report defines as pen insular Halifax and downtown Dart mouth — “is not positioned as a strategic economic asset by the municipal, pro vincial or federal levels of government.
“As a result, it has missed out on eco nomic development opportunities that would have benefitted all residents. Be cause its population is either stagnant or in decline, because businesses are strug gling and because several major ap proved developments have not proceed ed, the Regional Centre is at risk of ‘hol lowing out.’ “If we want it to be more like down town Boston (dense, liveable and pros perous) rather than like downtown De troit (hollowed-out, in decline) then expedient action is required," says the report.
The document also dispels a few myths about regional attitudes towards the downtown. It points out that redevel opment of the downtown was chosen as being among the top five capital project priorities in the 2010 citizens survey undertaken by the regional government.
It also noted than a large, region-wide survey by the Greater Halifax Partnership showed that 66 per cent of respondents disagreed with the statement, “HRM spends too much money on downtown Halifax," while only 21 per cent agreed with it.
Results from a Conference Board of Canada report from 2006 are also in cluded in the report. The board’s report concludes that, compared to nine region al city centres across the country, the downtown core of the Halifax region is “under-funded."
The blueprint approved by council this week provides a means by which devel opment in the downtown core could be encouraged, rather than frustrated. It suggests a three-tier, decision-making body that could identify, approve and initiate projects to revitalize the economy in the urban core.
Residents can hope that the current council has the leadership, through clear and powerful terms of reference, to give this partnership the teeth it needs to be successful. After years of neglect, which must be laid directly at the feet of region al councils over the past decade, this capital plan is at least a start towards a thriving, vibrant downtown core that will bring benefits to the entire region.
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