Agenda, June 16
Memorial Library
The fate of the Memorial Library was back before Council. Before us was a motion to discontinue the park plan and go out with a request for proposals to reuse the building. Council made some tweaks to the motion, but essentially approved it as is 15-1 (Morse absent, Fillmore voting against). I was happy to support the motion.
What to do with the old library has been a question that’s been kicking around City Hall for over a decade now. The last Council direction to staff in 2024 was to begin planning for new park space rather than continuing to try and find a reuse for the building. Council came to that conclusion because there have been no viable proposals put forward to reuse the building over the last decade. The old library is in bad shape (would cost an estimated $15-$20 million to make usable again), there are legal restrictions on the property limiting its reuse, and the whole site is essentially a mass grave. This is not an easy building to repurpose!
There has been some interest over the years from non-profits and others, but whenever anyone with an idea gets into the details, they have always backed out. There is a lot of risk and the costs are very high. HRM came close with a proposal from Dalhousie University, but in the end, the idea died like all the others before it. Basically, everyone who has looked at the old library concludes that it’s really not worth trying to reuse. Given that reality, in 2024 Council directed staff to start planning to reuse the library site as a park, which may or may not include retaining portions of the building.
Although HRM has been ready to move forward with planning for a park, many residents haven’t given up on the idea of reusing the building. That’s understandable. There is a lot of attachment to the old library, and if you’re not privy to all of the information, it just feels like an empty building that surely must have some potential reuse. Given that not uncommon public sentiment, staff worried that attempting to go out and engage with the public on a park plan would be doomed to fail because a lot of folks aren’t ready to let the building go. Staff’s original recommendation was to expand the scope of consultation to include the future of the library building, which then got modified at the Community Planning and Economic Development Standing Committee into discontinuing the park project to instead seek options for reuse via an expression of interest. Council tweaked the original CPED motion to turn “discontinue” into “pause” and to put a time limit on how long HRM will be open to proposals, but essentially approved the idea.
I’m on board with HRM giving it one more go to see if there are any viable options to reuse the old library. HRM has entertained proposals over the years, but the municipality has also never formally gone out to the world at large to ask for proposals. Given that there are a limited number of organizations out there that could reuse the library and given the experience so far with everyone who has looked at it, I’m pretty skeptical that anything will come of this. I still think it’s worth doing though because if HRM goes out to engage on creating a new park, the objection from folks who aren’t ready to let go would be: “how do you know there aren’t any proposals when you’ve never formally asked?” That’s a fair point. So one of two things will come of this, (1) there will be some miracle offer to reuse the building that is actually viable and sticks or (2) it will be very clear that there is no potential reuse of the old library, and it’ll then be easier to actually engage the community on what a future park could be.
Council didn’t put a dollar value on it, but there was a lot of discussion on requiring whatever proposals might come forward to be financially viable. The cost of repurposing the old library is at least $15-$20 million, maybe more. HRM’s budget is very tight with major capital projects like the Forum, a new police headquarters, and the need to expand our transit system (Bus Rapid Transit, Bedford Ferry, Burnside Transit Garage replacement) competing for scarce dollars. HRM simply doesn’t have the cash to fix the old library on our own when there is no municipal purpose for the building. Anyone proposing to reuse the old library is going to have to come forward with a strong business case. HRM isn’t in a position to take this on.
HRM expects it’ll take 6-12 months to complete a call for proposals and return to Council with a recommendation. I expect the end of that process will be that the paused park plan will unpause, but we’ll see. I’m open to being surprised. I personally think there is a lot of potential to retain part of the library facade as the centre piece of what could be a really interesting park. There are examples of preserving parts of buildings elsewhere. The origin story is very different, but Coventry Cathedral in the UK is an example that comes to mind. The Cathedral was destroyed by German bombing during World War II and its walls were left standing in the open air as a memorial. Not quite as grand, but closer to home, when Calgary’s original hospital was torn down in the 1970s, parts of its sandstone walls were left standing in Rundle Park. The space around Rundle could be better designed, but the concept of keeping a building’s facade in some form is something that we could do here.
We could have a new Downtown park space that honours the library’s history as a war memorial, its role in the city over its 60 years of use, as well as all the other history of the property from European fortifications, to the 1000s from the poor house that are buried there, to the Mi’kmaq’s presence. We’re not going to be able to get to having that conversation as a community though until we can be 100% sure we’ve exhausted all viable reuse options. One last offer out to the world is needed to move on. We’ll see what the next few months bring.
Alcohol at Sullivan’s Pond
HRM has a fairly restrictive municipal alcohol policy. The policy prohibits the sale/use of alcohol in all parks, except for sites identified in the policy. Sullivan’s Pond is a location where alcohol isn’t permitted. The Downtown Dartmouth Business Commission organizes a bunch of summer concerts at Sullivan’s Pond and they have made a request to have a licensed area as part of the Mellotones concert on September 6. They want to test the idea out so rather than modify the bylaw, Council approved a one-time permission for the Mellotones concert on September 6. We’ll see how it goes in assessing whether this is something that we’ll start allowing on a permanent basis.
Other:
- Brought the information report on converting the ball diamonds on the Dartmouth Common to a cricket pitch forward for discussion at our next meeting on June 23
- Rejected a site plan appeal for a construction and demolition site approval between Lake Echo and Porters Lake
- Finalized the 10% increase in ice rental rates (I voted against as I think this should have been phased in)
- Appointed a new Emergency Management Coordinator
- Awarded the tire contract for buses to Michelin
- Scheduled a public hearing to consider a smaller property line setback for a new development proposal at 1528 Queen Street in Halifax
- Initiated a planning process to relax rules across HRM that make it hard to develop solar farms
- Accepted new parcels in the Cogswell district as public streets and scheduled a public hearing to formally close portions of street in Cogswell that no longer exist
- Approved the 2026-2030 Seniors Recreation Plan
- Revised bylaws to complete some housekeeping amendments around how Councillors are allowed to spend district funds in an election year
- Heard a presentation from the Board of Police Commission on their planned workplan for the year
- Entered into less than market value lease agreements with the Bedford Sackville Learning Network and the Sackville Minor Hockey Association
- Approved 13 Regional Special Events grants
- Scheduled a public hearing to consider 2319 Maynard Street as a heritage property
- Increased the events grant for the Lacross Minor Box Nationals tournament by $15,000 (funded by the hotel room levy)
- Requested a staff report to clarify what is allowed in terms of Council meeting with external parties as a group