E-News September 2024

News

Sawmill River Project Underway
I have written a lot about the Sawmill River project and how transformational it will be for Downtown Dartmouth and District 5. It will enable redevelopment of derelict industrial lands along Canal Street and Skokomul Street (formerly Maitland), connect the Harbour and Banook trails, create new greenspace, and bring our buried river back above ground, providing major environmental benefits. It’s the most significant investment in Downtown Dartmouth or District 5 in generations, really since Alderney Gate was built. I’m very excited about this project and now it is actually underway.

Construction has begun at the lower end of the River behind Canal Street. The first bit of work is to build the pipe diversion and then the Dundas Street extension so that there is another road route in place when it comes time to rip up the intersection of Portland/Alderney/Prince Albert. Halifax Water is leading the combined project and will have updates on their website here.

There is one tinge of sadness in the whole thing. The beautiful mighty oak that sat right next to the Canal next to the curling club was dead centre in the way of where the new bridge and extension of Dundas Street is going. A few local residents reached out to me earlier this summer asking if it could be saved. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t possible. HRM would have had to scrap the Dartmouth Cove road connection completely to keep the tree. Staff did look at whether it could be moved, but the logistics of doing so would be considerable, the chances of the tree surviving would be low, and there would be a high likelihood that it would end up blown over in high winds wherever we set it down. I’m afraid it was time to say goodbye.

The tree will leave a legacy though. A local couple, Robert and Sheila Frame, who live nearby gathered some acorns last year and started a bunch of saplings. I connected them with HRM Park staff and they have generously donated five saplings to HRM. HRM’s amazing horticultural staff will take care of them for a bit before they get planted out in the future. This beautiful tree’s offspring will live on and with any luck, grow to be something that future generations can appreciate just as much. Many thanks to Robert and Sheila!

Student Transit Passes
The kids are back in school and with that came good news from the Province. HRM and the Province have agreed to extend and expand the student bus pass program. Last year, students at Dartmouth High and Woodlawn High and all the feeder junior high schools received bus passes providing them with access to transit for the school year. The pilot program was funded by HRM and the Province and was extended to cover the summer months while HRM and the Province ironed out details for 2024-2025.

I’m delighted that we reached an agreement this summer (had to wait for the Provincial announcement to share) and that now students across HRM, not just in Dartmouth, will have access to transit. This is good news for opening up opportunities for youth to participate more fully in extracurriculars, work, and volunteer. Getting folks riding transit in those key formulative years has potentially long-term benefits for HRM in creating lifelong transit riders. The model for this program was developed in Kingston, Ontario and there is a great video going over all that it has to offer here:

Thanks to the Province for getting fully on board with this program!

I want to acknowledge the work here of my former colleague, Lorelei Nicoll. Lorelei was the councillor for Cole Harbour for many years and she and I worked well together. We chatted one day about transit back in 2018. I wanted to raise the age that kids ride free to 12 and she wanted to explore a pass for high school students. We decided to pool our efforts and jointly met with Transit to map out how to pursue both items and then followed up with motions at Council. Both of those things have now come to pass, providing comprehensive access for youth right up to the end of university. This is what I really love about municipal government: an individual councillor can really make a difference.

Library Strike
This has been a difficult two weeks for our Libraries. As most of you I’m sure are aware, Library workers are on strike. This is really difficult for folks who depend on and use our Libraries and really difficult for workers who are out on the picket lines losing pay. It’s all around awful for everyone. I know how important the Library is as a community space, and place where everyone is welcome, regardless of whether they have any money. I grew up with the Library as part of my world as my family were regulars at the small Woodlawn Branch in the strip mall next to where Giant Tiger is now. Now that I have kids of my own, Alderney has played that role in our lives, and was especially important in their younger years. We’re all collectively losing by having our Libraries closed.

I have had people ask about the governance of the Library Board and why Council doesn’t have direct oversight. The Provincial Library Act establishes the Library Board, not Council, as the body that oversees management of the Library. The reason that the Library was structured this way is to try and make sure that politics doesn’t directly or indirectly determine which books go on the shelves. This is an important principle, especially when you consider the push in many American states by social conservative groups to ban materials that are associated in any way, no matter how mundane, with 2SLGTIBQ+ individuals.

The board management approach to the Library becomes a bit awkward at times like this though as folks look to Council to fix things, but Council isn’t in a management role and has never set any mandate for negotiations. The usual process of staff coming to Council in camera to get a mandate and then going off to negotiate and then reporting back to Council for approval doesn’t happen with the Library. That mandate discussion happens with the Library Board. Council has influence of course as HRM is the dominant funder (approximately 80% municipal, and about 20% provincial) and two Councillors are on the Library Board, but we’re not directly in charge.

It has been my position consistently in all negotiations that I have had any input into that everyone working should be paid a living wage. It’s in the name. It’s the money that we all need to live decent lives. The Library has put details of their last offer to the Union online. Management’s offer would have resulted in almost everyone making a living wage once benefits (health, dental, pension) that employees don’t have to pay for on their own are taken into account. The offer would have been a major increase in pay for the lowest paid workers. Details on the Library’s last offer is up online here.

The Union’s position isn’t as readily available online for me to link to (that I can find anyway) and Library workers didn’t vote on management’s offer so I’m not sure what the opinion is. What I have heard from the Union and staff on the picket line and through emails and social media is that it’s not enough given the pressures of inflation and historically low wages for Library staff. Management has said they are willing to go back to the table. I urge both sides to resume negotiations. Going back to bargaining is the only way that this will be resolved.

Christ Church Foutain of Hope
This Sunday, Christ Church on Ochterloney will hold a special event to celebrate the opening of their community water fountain. The water fountain is located next to the community fridge between the church and the hall. The idea behind the fountain is to make water readily available to anyone in the public who needs it, including the many marginalized folks who visit the area to access the community fridge, the Christ Church food bank, and Margaret’s House. The fountain received funding from HRM through the Community Grants Program for just over 50% of the project cost. An excellent use of the Community Grants Program! Well done Christ Church!

Banook Electronic Sign
A few residents have reached out to me asking what’s going on with the broken electronic sign by Banook on Prince Albert Road. It has been out of commission for a while now. I have discussed the sign with staff and it turns out it isn’t fixable. The technology that makes it work is hopelessly outdated. It’s so old it was still running on a dial-up modem. It would be very costly to refurbish or replace it, which has prompted a bit of a bigger discussion around what its purpose still is in this electronic age and whether it’s even in the right spot.

I have had feedback over the years that the sign was poorly placed from the very beginning. The signature element at the corner of Prince Albert and Nowlan is the canoe sculpture, but the electronic sign hovers just behind it in the same visual space flashing messages. Feedback has been that this space should really be about the canoe sculpture and that the sign intrudes on that. So HRM has made the decision that the sign is going to be removed. I’m pitching to Parks horticultural staff that HRM install some new garden beds in the area to complement the canoe sculpture instead.

HRM has a few other outdated signs around the municipality that are at the end of their life. Staff are planning to bring a report to Council next year on an approach to all of them. If there is an actual need for an electronic HRM sign in Downtown Dartmouth, the current thinking is it would be better placed along Prince Albert Road by the Findlay Community Centre where it can be more clearly used to advertise HRM rec programming that takes place at the Centre. I’m not sure exactly when the sign will be removed, but I expect it will go sometime this fall.

Findlay Park Upgrades
You might have noticed some activity in the greenspace between Hawthorne Street and the Findlay Community Centre. I’m pleased to share that thanks to some work by myself, Parks and Rec staff, and area residents who provided HRM with feedback over the last few years, the municipality is taking a fresh look at this neglected space. The old chain link fencing is gone and HRM is installing a proper park entrance with signage. HRM has also trimmed some of the lower branches off the trees to allow more lighting into the space. It’s a bigger capital project, but HRM is also looking at upgrading the pathway and at the potential of installing lighting. Surveyors have been out to map the space so that designers can look at what the art of the possible is in this area. Not exactly sure what is possible there yet as the grade is very steep, but it’s being looked at this year for a potential future capital project. So if you see surveyors on site and are wondering what they’re doing, it’s work to prepare for potentially paving the path and adding lights.

Opal Ridge Height Increase
Clayton Developments has applied for a small increase in height for two planned buildings in the Penhorn redevelopment (Opal Ridge). Clayton wants to increase the height of the two buildings that front onto the proposed greenspace that will connect the Brownlow and Penhorn Lake Parks from six storeys to seven. Since Penhorn was designated a special planning area by the Province, there won’t be any public engagement on this change and the decision will be made in secret by the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. This won’t come to Council and there won’t be any public discussion. For more detail, check out the HRM webpage for this application here.

Public Art Call Dartmouth North Community Centre
HRM is seeking public art proposals for the recently renovated Dartmouth North Community Centre at 134 Pinecrest Drive. The Centre serves one of the municipality’s most vibrant and diverse cultural communities – with many residents taking advantage of the Centre’s athletics, recreation, artistic and cultural programming. The Centre, along with the attached Library, also serves as a community gathering space for family and social support services, educational activities and workshops. Any artwork commissioned for the Centre must be relevant and engaging to the wide variety of residents that use this facility. Artists may wish to work with community or school groups in the creation of the artwork.
For more information, visit HRM’s website here. The deadline for submissions is Friday, September 27 at 4:00 pm.

Grahams Grove EV Chargers Active
Things are electric at Grahams Grove! The electric vehicle (EV) chargers are now online. The two new level two chargers are located in the parking lot in front of the new buildings. You can park and charge an electric vehicle there for a fee of $0.03 per minute, or $1.80 for the hour. This is the first HRM EV charger in Dartmouth but it won’t be the last. Alderney Landing and Cole Harbour Place will be getting EV chargers of their own in the spring of 2025. Funding for rolling out public EV Chargers in HRM has been provided through a grant from Natural Resources Canada. It’s important to note that EV vehicles don’t replace the need to make transit and active transportation more attractive options, but in a world where car use isn’t going to disappear entirely, decarbonizing our transportation system as much as possible has to be part of the overall mix of solutions to the climate crisis. For more details on HRM’s EV charger program visit HRM’s website here.

Public Consultation

Grahams Grove Active Transportation Connections
Saturday, September 28, 1:00 – 4:00 pm
Kiwanis Grahams Grove Community Building
Thursday, September 26, 7:00 – 8:00 pm (virtual)
You might recall some public meetings and discussion back in 2022 about how to improve transportation connections from Dartmouth Centre across the Circ to Waverley and Main Street. Due to staffing changes, this project was put on hold for much of 2023, but work is now back underway and drawing upon the work that was done in 2022, HRM will be shortly presenting design options to the public. Staff will be holding a public open house at Grahams Grove and an online virtual open house this month to gather feedback on the options. There will also be a new online survey that will be open September – October. The design options that HRM is considering aren’t publicly available yet (I will post them on my social media as soon as they are) so for now this is a save the date if you want to attend the in-person discussion on the 28th. More details will be available when the HRM project page is updated in the next few weeks.

Council Update

To keep you informed about what is going on at Council, I’m writing a regular blog after Council meetings. Each of my entries is about what I saw as noteworthy from a District 5 perspective and my views on the issues. We mi ght not always agree, but I think it’s important to provide a record of how I voted and why.

Council Update, August 20
The start of a watershed planning process to protect Dartmouth’s lakes, extending HRM’s affordable access program to HRM facilities that are run by community boards like the Zatzman Sportsplex, and my staff report request on a nature-based stormwater retrofit program. Read about it here.

Council Update, August 7
Initiating the planning process for bylaw amendments in Dartmouth Cove, and two staff report requests from me: (1) on building code changes to better enable missing middle housing and (2) a single HRM membership for all recreation facilities. Read about it here.

Events

Colour Festival
Sunday, September 8, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm
Alderney Landing
The 10th annual Halifax Colour Festival hosted by the Indian Festivals Club of Nova Scotia is back at Alderney Landing on September 8. This free event includes music, dancing, games and an opportunity to win prizes. It is open to all ages, but registration is required. You can register online here. 

Dartmouth at Dusk
Friday, September 13, 4:00 – 8:00 pm
Alderney Landing
The Dartmouth Makers are proud to present Dartmouth at Dusk for 2024 a summer series of handmade markets in the tent at Alderney Gate under the big white tent at Alderney Landing. Each show features a new lineup of makers, and is free to attend. Makers range from ceramicists to painters, bakers to brewers, clothing designers and more!

Fire and Water Festival
September 20-21, 2024
Alderney Landing
The annual Fire and Water Cultural Festival brings two nights of live music, art, dance, storytelling and more to the Alderney Landing Events Plaza. Featuring fire performances on the harbour, this is a must see spectacle for all ages and includes cultural representation from all over the world.

Art of City Building
Monday, September 16, 9:00 am – 6:00 pm
Light House Arts Centre,
1800 Argyle Street Halifax
The Art of City Building Conference will take place on Monday September 16. This pay-what-you-can conference brings together planners, architects, residents and community leaders to discuss new ideas in how we structure and operate our cities. This year’s conference’s theme is “Move Forward Together” (could be someone’s campaign slogan). The conference will include a forum with several of the front-runners for mayor in this year’s election. For more details and to buy tickets, visit the conference’s website here.

Light the Way
Saturday, October 5, 7:00 – 8:30 pm
Sancturary Arts Centre
100 Ochterloney Street
A concert by candlelight in support of the North Grove. Join Rostova String Quartet as they present pop music in a classical style. Tickets can be purchased online here. If you’re wondering what to expect, you can also watch a clip from the 2023 concert online here.