[Halifax] Dutch Village @ Andrew | 21 m | 6 fl | Completed

[Dmajackson]

And the continued renewal of Fairview continues.

This newbie is for the corner of Dutch Village Road and Andrew Street. This is across the street from Dairy Queen and Giant Tiger. It's no more than 200 meters from both Saint Lawrence Place (under construction) and the Halifax West Site (approved).

RENDERING:


Source

Case: 17759
Location: 3559-73 Dutch Village Road, 7179-87 Andrew Street
Lot Area: 23'548 square feet combined
Height: 21 M
Floors: 6 total (5 floors + penthouse)
Current Use: Vacant
Zoning: C-2A Minor Commercial
LUB: Halifax Peninsula
Architect: Geoff Keddy Architects Ltd
Developer: Dimo Georgakakos

2013.01.24 - Public Information Meeting
2013.09.10 - Public Hearing for MPS & LUB Amendments
2013.10.30 - MPS & LUB Amendments in effect
2013.11.18 - Development Agreement Approved

[Jstaleness]

Hope a rendering will appear soon too.
If the old Tim's across from this gets redeveloped soon the neighborhood will be hard to recognize.

[someone123]

It's nice to see more improvements in this area. It's good for the city to have more urban housing options, and from a regional development perspective it's easier to have a higher share of urban infill if more parts of the metro area are involved. It's also good to revitalize old commercial areas in order to take advantage of the buildings and infrastructure that already exists.

On top of all that the higher densities will also make the major corridors better candidates for improved transit service. If the Motherhouse development is built, for example, that small area around MSVU will have tons of demand for transit. If you have a string of 8-10 nodes like that you have the makings of an LRT route with good service levels and good ridership. If densities remain low, with lots of empty areas and strip malls, it will be difficult to ever support good transit service. People who cannot drive or cannot afford cars will have a hard time getting around and everybody else will be stuck in slow-moving traffic.

[Dmajackson]

Developer blames Butts for stalled project
By CHRIS LAMBIE Business Editor

The developer planning a 63-apartment complex on Dutch Village Road is blaming Halifax’s chief administrative officer for delays on the project.

Dimo Georgakakos hopes to build a six-storey building at the corner of Andrews Street. He’s asking for an amendment to the municipal planning strategy, which only allows four storeys on the five properties in question.

“Their staff is so cut back at the planning department that they’re taking forever to get things done,” Georgakakos said Friday.

“I submitted this a year ago and it’s just starting to go through the process now. It’s totally unacceptable.”

He pointed at Richard Butts, the city’s chief administrative officer, for causing the delays.

...

(clambie@herald.ca)

Read More Here: Thechronicleherald.ca

[halifaxboyns]

Full out hiring mode!? The only public job postings for HRM's planning department has been the director of Planning and Infrastructure, the Urban Design Project Manager and a Supervisor for Community Planning. That's been out so far...so if they are posting these jobs, I'd ask where?

Secondly - Butt's comments that they pay competitively, false. HRM is the largest city in Atlantic Canada, yet Saint John pays almost $20K more a year for a senior planner than HRM.

[someone123]

The claim that it took the developer 9 months or whatever to "get the forms right" sounds a little suspect. My impression is that if any little detail is wrong the process just halts. You'd think HRM planning could do more to facilitate these developments given how large the development fees are, but they appear to have an almost adversarial relationship with developers.

HRM bureaucracy?

• Video Link

[Dmajackson]

Proposal

Geoff Keddy Architects have been retained the property owner to act on its behalf in applying to amend the Halifax MPS and the Halifax Peninsula LUB to establish a site-specific development agreement policy, which would allow for the consideration of a new 6-storey (5 levels plus a penthouse), 61-unit residential development on the subject site.

The building is proposed to face Dutch Village Road and Andrew Street, and the access driveway will be off Andrew Street leading to two levels of underground parking. The proposal will require consolidating the subject properties into one parcel.
The site is comprised of five properties located at the northwest corner of Dutch Village Road and Andrew Street. All properties were utilized for commercial and residential uses; however, the buildings currently occupying the subject properties are vacant. The properties have a combined lot area of 23,548 square feet, with a street frontage of approximately 115 feet along Dutch Village Road and 207 feet along Andrew Street.

Case 17759 Details

Pubic Information Meeting: January 24th at 7:00 p.m. at HRM Western Region Office, Bayers Road Centre, Suite 2005, 7071 Bayers Road, Halifax.

[Dmajackson]

This project is moving forward finally!

First reading for the MPS/LUB amendments will be on Monday (July 22nd, 2013). A public hearing will then be held and DA approval follows a couple of months later so final approval is likely to be in December.

The quick and dirty fast facts are; 21M/6FL , 61 UNITS , 140 PERSONS , 61 PARKING SPOTS (2 LEVELS OF UNDERGROUND PARKING) , 4'000SQ FT OF COMMERCIAL. There are some basic black and white renderings in the link below;

Case 17759: MPS/LUB Amendments, and Development Agreement for the northeast corner of Dutch Village Road and Andrew Street, Halifax

[halifaxboyns]

Did anyone ready the additional correspondence on the proposal!? Wow...is all I'm saying...

[Aya_Akai]

Originally Posted by halifaxboyns

Did anyone ready the additional correspondence on the proposal!? Wow...is all I'm saying...

I normally only flick through that stuff for a quick laugh usually. Goodness... that one fellow was very ... uh.. adamant about his opinions, certainly an interesting read I had to laugh at the one that was along the lines of 'yes, sustainable growth, density etc etc.... BUT AN APARTMENT BUILDING ISN'T THE SOLUTION TO THIS" .... to quote our own picnicface "expardon me?"

[halifaxboyns]

Originally Posted by HaliStreaks

I normally only flick through that stuff for a quick laugh usually. Goodness... that one fellow was very ... uh.. adamant about his opinions, certainly an interesting read I had to laugh at the one that was along the lines of 'yes, sustainable growth, density etc etc.... BUT AN APARTMENT BUILDING ISN'T THE SOLUTION TO THIS" .... to quote our own picnicface "expardon me?"

I literally face palmed...
I showed it around the Planning offices out here - it got a good laugh...

[mcmcclassic]

Originally Posted by halifaxboyns

Did anyone ready the additional correspondence on the proposal!? Wow...is all I'm saying...

Man, people in this city are brutal towards anything new. Where in the hell are we supposed to build new buildings? "Building there will increase traffic...." - how would building 61 units outside the city affect traffic I wonder??

People who hate on moderate density fillers that are on transit paths need a lesson on how public transit works I reckon.

[Dmajackson]

First reading is scheduled at Regional Council on Tuesday (August 6th, 2013).

Staff Report

On a related note Councillor Walker is bringing forward this motion at the same meeting;

"That Halifax Regional Council request staff to initiate a planning process to establish comprehensive planning policies that enable additional commercial and residential developments on the lands located within Dutch Village Road and neighbouring areas, as outlined in Map 1"

[halifaxboyns]

Originally Posted by Dmajackson

First reading is scheduled at Regional Council on Tuesday (August 6th, 2013).

Staff Report

On a related note Councillor Walker is bringing forward this motion at the same meeting;

"That Halifax Regional Council request staff to initiate a planning process to establish comprehensive planning policies that enable additional commercial and residential developments on the lands located within Dutch Village Road and neighbouring areas, as outlined in Map 1"

I wonder what Map 1 will outline? I'm assuming it will be a greater section of Dutch Village Road?

[MeEtc]

Originally Posted by halifaxboyns

I wonder what Map 1 will outline? I'm assuming it will be a greater section of Dutch Village Road?

There's a map labelled Map 1 in the PDF, I assume that would be the one

[Dmajackson]

The Public Hearing for this project will be held at Regional Council on September 10th, 2013!

[Dmajackson]

We finally have a proper rendering of this proposal thanks to Geoff Keddy Architects!


Source

[Jstaleness]

Not Bad, More modern looking than I expected.

[halifaxboyns]

The CH had an article indicating that council approved the amendments; so the DA will go back to the Community Council for approval now. According to the article, no one showed up for the public hearing.

[Dmajackson]

Final approval for this project will be on Monday, November 18th, 2013 at Halifax & West Community Council.