Quote:
Originally Posted by worldlyhaligonian
I think most of us want modern, glass developments... which are supposedly "evil" or "bad" for Halifax.
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Oh that would be fine, but about 60% of what is built in the North End is utilitarian concrete boxes or shit cheap buildings with high concrete plinths to put cheap parking under cheap apartments.
I am not disrespecting the views & goals of this board, I am pointing out that right now the Peninsula North area is getting a lot of really ugly buildings.
Quote:
Originally Posted by halifaxboyns
The goal for this plan should be two fold:
First it should create a reasonably achievable goal for the area, increasing density. These neighbourhoods are perfectly located close to the core and as a result are the perfect areas to intensify. The plan should set clear targets for building height standards, unit size, parking and set goals for very nicely redone public realm (cafes, sidewalks, etc).
The second thing that it should do is setout clear design expectations - setting what can be done as of right and then when a DA through HbD kicks in. It should setout examples of good design materials and methods and show bad designs that should be discouraged and mostly should encourage parking to be as much underground as possible.
Personally; while the dreamer in me would say go big and let things be 30+ stories; realistically that won't happen. But I don't think this area being up to 20 stories is out of the realm of unreasonable. Plus; if you let things get that high through bonusing, you can get contributions to the public realm and other things done which might not be able to happen if you stick to the Pacey 7 model (as I've nick named it).
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I agree, these are the two points that are missing right now in the North End, for every good building or renovation something horrible goes in that is worse than an empty lot, in my opinion.
I am all for 20-30 story buildings where appropriate. Why we focus on that for downtown along Barrington is beyond me. I just don't think the road/sidewalks in our old downtown are wide enough. You go to Toronto Edmonton, New York the main drags are usually twice as wide as barrington, 5 lanes of traffice, bigger sidewalks.
We could put 30 story towers down in the old railway cut/pier 21, or all along the old railway cut between Barrington and dockyard, or have a high density corridor approved for the Kempt Road area. There are sites all over the peninsula where this might make more sense then most of the 250 year old street grid between Blowers and Duke.