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Originally Posted by Keith P.
Mason is already bloviating on Reddit saying this doesn't comply with the Centre Plan (because it is Too TALL!!!) and hence he will oppose it. Cripes! Let's hope he gets turfed next election.
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Shouldn't councillors be following the planning rules that are currently in place instead of a new set of rules? How do developers know what rules to follow? Is it even possible to simultaneously satisfy the old MPS and the Centre Plan? If it's appealed, won't it go to the NSUARB and be judged based on the MPS?
The Centre Plan looks like a mess, judging from the map.
For example there's a big "future growth node" blob around the Canada Post facility that is max 20 m for some reason but then certain plots around its periphery are as high as 62 m, include the Shopper's Drug Mart. North of Young is 50 m+ for some reason but south of Young is 20 m. There's no lowrise residential around there at all (not that it really matters; it's common practice here to put townhouses at the base of 30 storey towers).
Whether a developer is allowed to build 26 m halfway through the lot to Pepperrell or all the way seems to depend solely on if the lot is currently subdivided. Maybe this is just an artifact of picking one value per lot, and those lots that run all the way through will have to step down?
It looks arbitrary and political, probably driven by specific lobbying from property owners, with developers demanding more height and residents demanding less.
Gladstone Ridge is in trouble. That block is max 20 m but those buildings are 12 storeys tall. According to Halifax NIMBY dogma those houses the developer built in front of the highrises should be extremely undesirable (short building next to tall buiding). In the real world, those houses have been selling for around $500,000 each. Apparently these homebuyers did not get the memo!