Agenda, March 21Agenda, March 7 Shelter Downtown DartmouthIn Council’s March meetings, there was a bundle of decisions related to housing including a motion I brought forward related to the emergency shelter at the Christ Church Hall on Dundas Street. My request was that the Mayor write the Province to ask …
Agenda, February 21Agenda, February 22 (Budget) Short-Term RentalsThe main item on Council’s agenda this week was the regulation of short-term rentals (Air BNB, VRBO, etc). Most of HRM’s existing land-use bylaws don’t allow for short-term rentals in residential areas. Short-term rentals are considered a tourist accommodation use, which was generally …
Agenda, February 14 (Public Works)Agenda, February 10 (Library)Agenda, February 8 (HalifACT)Agenda, February 3 (Police)Agenda, January 27 (CAO’s Office) Budget time is always the busiest time of year at City Hall. To build the budget, Council reviews each department, which pretty much triples the amount of time we spend in the …
Agenda, January 24Agenda, February 7 Penhorn Lake Park SaleCouncil has approved the sale of a small piece of land in Penhorn Lake Park to Penhorn Residential Holdings GP (the company that owns the adjacent redevelopment). The land totals 221.7 square metres, the equivalent space of seven transit buses. The land …
Council’s budget process resumed last week as we went over the proposed capital budget. You might recall discussions back in December on what the starting point for the average out of pocket tax bill should be. Staff had proposed an 8% increase to the bill, but Council asked for 4% …
Agenda, January 10 Stormwater Right-of-Way ChargeHRM is changing how the stormwater right-of-way charge is paid. The stormwater right-of-way charge has a long and complex history. First thing to know is there are two stormwater charges. One is specific to property and that’s on the Halifax Water bill. The second is …
Mic Mac Mall Redevelopment:The most significant Dartmouth item on the agenda was the proposed redevelopment of Mic Mac Mall (being called M District by the proponent who is looking to change the name). The concept plan calls for a whack of new units. Seven 30+ storey towers, five 9 storey …
Budget 2023-2024 BeginsCouncil had its first session on the 2023/2024 budget last week. To create the budget takes a while because Council examines spending in every department. From that examination, we build a list of potential budget adjustments. The adjustment list is debated once all the department presentations are done …
Corner Store HoursCouncil gave first reading for a new bylaw limiting hours of operation for convenience stores, restaurants, and grocery stores operating in residential zones. I wasn’t planning to write about this since it’s mainly a Peninsula Halifax issue, but there has been a fair bit of attention on this …
Agenda, September 13 Dartmouth Cove Response:Dartmouth Cove was on the agenda at Council. You may have heard that a numbered company with ties to Atlantic Road Construction and Paving wants to infill a large water lot in Dartmouth Cove. The new land would take on the zoning of the adjacent …
