Rock With Nova Scotia in 2010

One of the biggest threats to Halifax tourism is not the transportation or lack of accommodation – it is the wanton destruction on Heritage buildings. In fact man of these buildings are bought and torn down so the companies do not have to maintain them while they think of what they will with them. So these irreplaceable buildings come down and Halifax is becoming “The City of Parking Lots.”

Last month Armour Group lost a squeaker of a vote in city council for their Queen’s Landing project on the waterfront. It required that the last complete block of heritage buildings from the early-to-mid 1800’s be gutted and a complex would rise using the facade of the old buildings. In other words they just want the outer front shell to show their concern for heritage.

HRM by Design is a program to set forth “a clear and predictable land-use by-law and accompanying guidelines that set the rules on the height and design of future downtown Halifax developments.” Te biggest part of this will be the ability for the public to have input before the developers spend all the money on the preliminaries. This will prevent the “fighting-every-step-of-the-way” type of consensus building. Here is what their website states:

HRMbyDESIGN intends to articulate an urban design strategy that:

• Establishes a clear and compelling vision for our city’s future.

• Fosters high quality, sustainable development and vibrant public spaces.

• Brings clarity and predictability to development review processes.
• Introduces new design guidelines.

• Establishes incentives for good design and development.

Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia thinks that this will take the power out of hands of the people and put into the paws of the developers. They believe that heritage will then be squandered.

Well, that said, Ben McCrae of Armour Group struck first. Upset by losing his deal he ordered that demolition be carried out on a wood-structure building that was part of his proposed development. I’m not sure whether it was to be part of the facade but that’s moot now. It is now another parking lot.

So, do tourists want to see big shiny buildings or old buildings with character? In addition, are those people who oppose buildings like “Twisted Sisters” to be classified as Luddites? May HRM by Design will solve a few of these problems.