My first blog entry for the new Council! We’ve had two meetings so far, both of which were pretty light in terms of materials, which wasn’t unexpected given that we have so many new councillors and a new mayor trying to find their footing. Still getting to know my new colleagues, but my sense is the voters made good choices. A few things of note from our last two meetings:
Agenda, November 19
Agenda, November 12
Council Committees
Council went through the messy process of committee and board selection. My sense of the room is that people mostly got what they wanted. I will continue to serve on the boards of Alderney Landing, the Sportsplex, and the Shubenacadie Canal Commission, and will be returning to the Bridge Commission after being off for the last two years. I did get my first and second picks for Council’s Standing Committees and will serve on Transportation and Environment. I won’t be on Community Planning and Economic Development this time around, which is a first for me. I have been on CPED the entire time that I have been on Council, but with the suburban plan looming as a major item for this Council’s mandate (a Centre Plan type change for the suburbs), the time was right to clear some space for my colleagues who are going to need to be very close to that planning process. I’m happy with the roles that I have been assigned.
North Woodside Park Plan
Staff were back before Council recommending that HRM undertake a park plan next year for the North Woodside Community Centre Park. The parkland in question is located between the North Woodside Community Centre and Homebridge Youth’s Reigh Allen Centre along Pleasant Street. The space is forested and residents in the area have expressed concern about it being safe in the past. HRM has done some minor thinning of the vegetation in recent years to allow for more sight lines into the space and did consider whether it would be a suitable location for a disc golf course, but the real underlying impediment to doing anything substantial with the space is there is no overall vision or plan.
While there is no direction as to how the forested part of the North Woodside Community Centre Park should be used, there have been some community conversations through the Pleasant North Woodside Neighbourhood Association. The Association took it upon themselves to organize a survey, the findings of which were presented to Harbour East Community Council. Survey responses did confirm past feedback that folks don’t feel entirely comfortable being around the area at night, and did indicate some preferences for developing walking trails, lighting, and seating areas. The Association’s survey makes for a good starting point for HRM to undertake an actual park plan.
In response to the Pleasant Woodside presentation, Harbour East passed a motion requesting a staff report on HRM undertaking a park plan for the space. Staff agreed and recommended HRM undertake a park plan in 2025/2026. Council approved the recommendation, which means that, subject to budget deliberations, HRM will undertake a park plan for this space next year. There will be public engagement as part of the planning process so there will be a chance for everyone in the neighbourhood to offer feedback as to how this space should be used. This is very much the outcome I was hoping for. Many thanks to the Pleasant Woodside Neighbourhood Association for setting this in motion.
LakeWatchers Program
Staff were back before Council to provide an update on LakeWatchers, HRM’s lake water quality testing program. LakeWatchers launched in 2022 with a sampling program for 73 lakes throughout HRM. The sampling done through the program isn’t the same as the daily sampling for bacteria levels that goes on at supervised beaches. LakeWatchers looks at lake health more broadly, measuring salt content, phosophorus levels, bacteria, temperature, PH, and dissolved oxygen. The program encourages citizen stewardship and participation by engaging with local groups to facilitate water sampling. In places where there aren’t community groups, HRM has a consultant gather samples twice a year. Since the program launched in spring 2022, HRM has steadily grown the program’s volunteer base, increasing the number of lakes with community testing to 30 compared to 15 in 2022.
Unfortunately, regular water quality testing through LakeWatchers over the last two years has revealed that 10 lakes, including Banook, Micmac, Penhorn, and Oathill, have high salt levels that exceed federal guidelines. Staff will be initiating a review of HRM’s winter road operations to try and see what options we might have to reduce the amount of road salt that gets washed into our lakes. In places like Banook, where a 100 series highway crosses the lake and where Prince Albert Road has stormwater outfalls that go directly from road to lake, that won’t be easy!
Staff’s second recommendation is one that dovetails potentially well with a staff report request I made during the last Council to look at nature-based stormwater management (more rain gardens, bioswales, etc). Staff are recommending that HRM investigate setbacks for where stormwater is allowed to be discharged to give more space for excess nutrients and salts to be absorbed by the land and vegetation. Staff also want to look at how naturalization could be employed around lakes that are being significantly impacted. This sounds very much like major components that I was looking for with my stormwater motion!
The last recommendation coming out of staff looking at the challenges that LakeWatchers has revealed/highlighted is for the mayor to write the Province requesting that the Province implement Provincial stormwater standards. Why this is impotant is because Halifax Water is a utility that is legally bound by the Public Utilities Act and regulated by the Utility and Review Board. The primary goal of regulating utilities is to make sure they spend money wisely and keep costs to customers as low as possible. That’s generally a good thing, but the downside is that Halifax Water can’t legally invest in measures that would improve the quality of stormwater. It has to be a requirement, not a nice to do. If the Province had standards that Halifax Water was required to meet, then the Utility would be able to invest capital dollars on making improvements.
All three recommendations coming out of the LakeWatchers review are good ones and, to me, demonstrate the value in having this program. The recommendations should align as well with the coming watershed management planning that will be taking place in Dartmouth over the next two years.
Affordable Housing Tax Relief:
Council approved a staff report request of mine to look at increasing the tax relief that HRM provides to non-profits who own affordable housing. HRM has an existing grant program that reduces the taxes that all non-profits pay. How much tax relief HRM provides depends on the activity. HRM currently reduces the taxes that non-profit housing providers pay by 50%.
What I have heard from several non-profit operators is that the tax relief grant program is really valuable because it provides stable and predictable funding each and every year. It helps non-profits cover the costs of maintenance, something that can be challenging when you’re charging below-market rents. It also can also be really important when trying to get a project off the ground since HRM’s tax relief can be factored into applications for funding with other orders of government and with lenders. HRM’s tax relief program doesn’t grab attention the way announcements for project specific funding does, but it is every bit as valuable.
HRM should consider increasing the amount of tax forgiveness that HRM provides. There hasn’t been any new public housing built in Nova Scotia since 1995, leaving non-profits to try and, imperfectly, fill the void created by successive governments abandoning their responsibility. We desperately need new off-market housing and so HRM should look at deepening our support for non-profits.
Council approved my request for a staff report. 2025 budget deliberations are about to begin so it’s unlikely to be something we can consider for the 2025/2026 budget. Instead, we will likely get a staff report back in 2025, setting up a potential change for 2026.
Other:
- Approved a number of changes from civic addressing including renaming Seaview Park in Prospect to Jessica Brown Park
- Appointed several new development officers in the planning department (this is strangely something that the Charter requires Council to do)
- Directed staff to update HRM’s risk management process
- Received the HalifACT annual report
- Received a presentation on the Tourism Master Plan
- Approved the 2025 Council meeting schedule
- Directed the mayor to write the Province requesting that the Province amend the Motor Vehicle Act to allow for trained municipal staff to manage traffic during special events rather than requiring police to do that work as is the case now. HRM has made variations of this request to the Province in the past, but the Province hasn’t take any action so we’re re-asking
- Set a hearing to consider registering 1300 Oxford Street, Halifax as a heritage property
- Approved substantial alterations to a registered heritage property at 1262 Bedford Highway
- Approved altering the window layout on a side wall for a registered heritage building at 86 Ochterloney Street (development agreement for the larger project to come forward for consideration in the future)
- Agreed to hold a public hearing to consider the potential demolition of a registered heritage building at 1259 South Park Street in Halifax (the former cemetery keepers residence at Holy Cross Cemetery)
- Requested staff reports: (1) on the creation of an HRM tartan, and (2) a review of collisions involving transit buses
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