The Planning & Design Centre Newsletter ISSUE 004 • NOVEMBER 2010 Many projects in the Halifax Regional Municipality are currently underway, some are just starting to be discussed, some are now coming to light and seeking public approval, others are approved but not yet evident on the ground. At least one went from its status as an approved project to simply becoming another empty site. Obviously there are also several projects under construction changing the skyline and streetscapes at this very moment. There are also plans recently approved, Functional Plans on the horizon and studies underway. Not to mention, working groups (within City Hall), Task Forces and Commissions, Corporations, Boards and Citizen Interest Groups. Plans, projects, studies and infrastructure investments (in the centre and the suburbs, both grandfathered and parentless) are largely isolated pursuits and frequently not seen as part of a complex interrelated whole. The truth is that projects depend on each other. That each project and infrastructure investment affects everything else and all of us. Every project in every part of this region and every plan is an opportunity for innovation and creativity. Each project, every expectation has the potential to distinguish us, to build on what makes us special, to improve the quality of our community and thereby attract more residents, tourist and investment. We have to expect the best and demand creativity and quality. The Planning & Design Centre is dedicated to three simple principles: 1. That access to information is of primary importance. To increase awareness and improve the quality of design information about projects and plans needs to be current, in one place and highly visible. 2. That an ongoing forum for public discussion and exhibitions is key to raising expectations, overcoming established polarized views, establishing a design culture and shaping our own future. 3. That developing high quality, sustainable infrastructure requires leadership, innovation and an advocate. SEEK is the newsletter for the PDC. It is a small part of that first principle. This fourth issue is dedicated to current development in the central area. It’s hoped that even this limited picture might serve as the basis for more informed discussion. The next issue will expose the connection between the centre and the region by focusing on transportation. We continue to be dedicated to the idea that planning and design need to be more visible. That development is not innately good or bad, but rather what we are able to make of it. That the future of this city cannot be contained or constrained by a plan, a project or any momentary setback. That the only limit is the reach of our collective imagination. WMFARES GROUP Issue 004 Sponsors:
Transcript
The Planning & Design Centre Newsletter
ISSUE 004 • NOVEMBER 2010
Many projects in the Halifax Regional Municipality are currently underway, some are just starting to be discussed, some are now coming to light and seeking public approval, others are approved but not yet evident on the ground. At least one went from its status as an approved project to simply becoming another empty site. Obviously there are also several projects under construction changing the skyline and streetscapes at this very moment.
There are also plans recently approved, Functional Plans on the horizon and studies underway. Not to mention, working groups (within City Hall), Task Forces and Commissions, Corporations, Boards and Citizen Interest Groups.
Plans, projects, studies and infrastructure investments (in the centre and the suburbs, both grandfathered and parentless) are largely isolated pursuits and frequently not seen as part of a complex interrelated whole.
The truth is that projects depend on each other. That each project and infrastructure investment affects everything else and all of us. Every project in every part of this region and every plan is an opportunity for innovation and creativity. Each project, every expectation has the potential to distinguish us, to build on what makes us special, to improve the quality of our community and thereby attract more residents, tourist and investment. We have to expect the best and demand creativity and quality.
The Planning & Design Centre is dedicated to three simple principles:
1. That access to information is of primary importance. To increase awareness and improve the quality of design information about projects and plans needs to be current, in one place and highly visible.
2. That an ongoing forum for public discussion and exhibitions is key to raising expectations, overcoming established polarized views, establishing a design culture and shaping our own future.
3. That developing high quality, sustainable infrastructure requires leadership, innovation and an advocate.
SEEK is the newsletter for the PDC. It is a small part of that first principle. This fourth issue is dedicated to current development in the central area. It’s hoped that even this limited picture might serve as the basis for more informed discussion. The next issue will expose the connection between the centre and the region by focusing on transportation.
We continue to be dedicated to the idea that planning and design need to be more visible. That development is not innately good or bad, but rather what we are able to make of it. That the future of this city cannot be contained or constrained by a plan, a project or any momentary setback. That the only limit is the reach of our collective imagination.
WMFARES G R O U P
Issue 004 Sponsors:
Fenwick Tower
A $100 million retrofit and redevelop-ment is in the works for Fenwick Tower. The 41-year old, 33-storey Brutalist tow-er, the tallest building in Atlantic Canada, was a Dalhousie student residence for 38 years. New owners, Templeton Prop-erties, plan to convert it to mid to high range apartments with the possibility of condominium units, and 10% allotted to affordable housing.
The new mixed-use development is a candidate for LEED certification and in-cludes green roofs, a grey water system and a pedestrian corridor inspired by Halifax’s Hydrostone District that will be lined with shops, restaurants and public art. Development plans include adding a 36’ wide addition to the existing tower along its entire height and reclading the tower in glass curtain walls, 2 additional commercial/residential towers (8 and 9 stories respectively) 6 townhouses along Fenwick Street and low-rise commercial buildings along the pedestrian corridor.
The development has received positive feedback with regards to both the de-sign and the consultation process used in its development. A series of work-shops and open houses took place in the fall of 2009. The developers were applauded for starting the process with a clean slate; using an inclusive, demo-cratic process and responding to public input.
Templeton Properties has made an ap-plication to amend the MPS and LUB to allow for a mixed-use re-development of the site through the development agree-ment process.
Seaport Farmers’ Market
The Seaport Farmers’ Market opened its doors as scheduled in August. The new market was a major renovation, $12 mil-lion, of Halifax Port Authority (HPA) Shed 20. The market will be leased from the HPA to the Halifax Farmers’ Market co-operative for $2.25 million for the next 40 years.
A candidate for LEED Platinum certifi-cation, the Seaport Farmers’ Market is one of the greenest buildings in North America. Designed by local architecture firm Lydon Lynch, the market retains the original support beams and ceiling truss-es of the original shed and incorporates a variety of green techniques including geothermal heating, green roofs and a green interior wall, mini wind turbines and rainwater harvesting. Building fea-tures include an accessible roof platform with demonstration plots for urban agri-culture, 4 built-in storefronts, an outdoor area for vendors and a public gathering plaza.
The market has received funding from all three levels of government and has raised $1.8 million through its Farmers’ Market Investment Cooperative which has been certified as a community eco-nomic investment fund and allows inves-tors provincial tax breaks for investing their RRSP’s. Additional funds are creat-ed through rental fees paid by vendors.
Starting in November, the Seaport Farm-ers’ Market will be open:
The design team for the Halifax Central Library has been selected and the pub-lic consultation process is underway. Fowler Bauld & Mitchell Architects (Hali-fax) along with Dutch architects shmidt hammer lassen will lead the project. The highest bidding team at $4.3 million, they were selected from four short-listed architecture teams.
The Halifax Central Library site is on the corner of Spring Garden Road and Queen Street where presently there is a gravel parking lot. The Central Library falls under the HRM by Design guidelines and is restricted in height to 27m. A pub-lic open space within the 21m setback from Spring Garden Road will provide a venue for special events and festivals. The library at 109,000 square feet will cost an estimated $55 million and will in-clude a larger book collection, additional meeting rooms and computers as well as a 250-seat auditorium.
To date, four public consultation ses-sions out of a series of five have been conducted. The first session was pre-design, the second session reviewed conceptual design sketches resulting from previous public input and the third session revealed the conceptual design with sketches and models. Promotions for the first public consultation included sidewalk chalk art and a knit-in that re-sulted in a hand knit cozy for a tree on the site with pockets that held event in-vitations. The next public consultation session is November 4 (please see our events guide for more info).
Farmers Markets of Nova Scotia CooperativeLydon Lynch ArchitectureHalifax Seaport Farmers’ Market
HRMFowler Bauld & Mitchell Ltd.Schmidt Hammer LassenHalifax Central Library
HRM by DesignNeighbourhood Greenprint
Halifax’s Regional Plan, adopted in 2006, called for a Regional Centre Ur-ban Design Study, now known as HRM by Design. The Regional Centre is de-fined by the Halifax Peninsula and down-town Dartmouth within the circumferen-tial highway. The study has two parts: A new plan for downtown Halifax, as well as a document intended to give struc-ture and guidance to other Regional Centre neighbourhood planning pro-cesses. This document is known as the Neighbourhood Greenprint. Its purpose is to encourage sustainable neighbour-hood design by offering design-based guidelines calling for appropriately and sensitively scaled development. Cur-rently HRM, when compared to cities of a similar size, has some of the lowest levels of population density. Eventually, all communities in the Regional Centre will update their plans. The Neighbou-hood Greenprint aims to give structure to this process while curbing sprawl by getting more people to live and work in Halifax’s core.
When finished, the Neighbourhood Greenprint will be comprised of four sections: Background and Vision, Reur-banization Strategies and Urban Design Guidelines, Design Guidelines for the Model Building Typologies, and Imple-mentation Strategies. The Urban Design Task Force, in association with consul-tants, have been working to translate the lessons learned from the HRM by Design public forums into constructive guidelines that can be used by subsequent planning processes. The process is ongoing, and how the document gets turned into ac-tion is under development.
Barrington Street Heritage Conservation District Update
The Barrington Street Heritage Conser-vation District regulations were passed just over a year ago as part of the suite of policies included in HRM by De-sign’s Downtown Municipal Planning Strategy. The creation of the Heritage Conservation District includes an incen-tive program to encourage investment. HRM staff have recommended that Council award $200,000 in grants and $1,018,686 in tax credits spread over eight eligible restoration projects. HRM expects to recoup the tax credit losses with greater tax assessment from the renovated properties.
The first year of the District being in ef-fect has not been without controversy. A ‘drafting error’ is being blamed for holding up two projects that had been grandfathered into the new planning strategy. During the planning process, four projects were ‘grandfathered’ into the HRM by Design documents, mean-ing they were allowed to proceed un-der the regulations in place at time the proposal was filed. The drafting error occurred because two projects, a de-velopment proposed on the site of the Roy Building, and another on the site of the Discovery Centre, were grandfa-thered in to the new Downtown MPS but not the Heritage Conservation Dis-trict legislation. Since the proposals do not meet the new height limits imposed by the Heritage Conservation District guidelines, Council has no way to ap-prove them, meaning they are unable to fulfill their original intention of allow-ing the proposals to be considered. To rectify this situation, HRM council is considering amendments to the Heri-
tage Conservation District regulations; if these amendments are approved, both projects will be considered under devel-opment agreements that require a pub-lic hearing, giving the people of Halifax a chance to voice their opinions about the projects.
Hali-FACTS
Total population of HRM (1976): 278,500 peopleTotal population of HRM (2001): 359,090 peopleTotal population of HRM (2006): 372,679 peopleProjected population of HRM by 2030: 472,679 people Total number of households in HRM (1976): 84,900Total number of households in HRM (2001): 150,100Total number of households in HRM (2006): 155,045Projected number of new households in HRM (2026): 58,750Total land area within Regional Centre: 8,000 acresVacant land in Regional Centre: 250 acres Percentage of HRM jobs in the Regional Centre: 50%Number of major academic institutions in the Regional Centre: 6Number of built projects in the down-town completed since the year 2000: 6Amount of public dollars allocated to the proposed Convention Centre: $159 mil-lionAmount of public dollars allocated to the new Halifax Central Library: $53 millionSources: HRM Baseline Report, Statistics Canada, HRM Regional Plan, The Coast
1 The Armour Group Ekistics Planning & Design, Sasaki Associates, Inc. Queens Landing
2 ECL Developments Zeidler Partnership Architects International Place
3 Starfish Properties David F. Garrett Architecture Barrington Espace
4 Centennial Group WZMH Architects Salter Street Block
5 YMCA of Greater Halifax /Dartmouth Michael Napier Architecture New Halifax YMCA
6 Nova Scotia Power WZMH Architects Nova Scotia Power, Corporate Office Facilities
1 42 5
3 6
International Place // 22-storey mixed-use office ECL Developments LtdZeidler Partnership Architects660,000 sq ft
New Halifax YMCA // 13 and 17-storey mixed-use commercial/hotel/residentialThe YMCA of Greater Halifax/DartmouthMichael Napier Architecture$300 million500,000 sq ftnewhalifaxymca.ca
Waterside Centre // 9-storey office building with retailThe Armour GroupLydon Lynch Architects85,500 sq ft$16 millionhpwatersidecentre.ca
Nova Centre // Convention centre, 14-storey office and 18-storey hotelRank IncNoel Fowler Architect$300 million1,200,000 sq ftnovacentre.ca / conventioncentreinfo.com
Barrington Espace // 5-storey mixed-use retail and officeStarfish Properties LtdDavid F. Garrett ArchitectsFirst application to be approved through HRM by Designstarfishproperties.ca34,600 sq ft
Roy Building Site // 16-storey mixed-use Starfish Properties LtdDRSA Envision Architecture268,000 sq ft
Discovery Centre14-storey retail/office or retail/office/residential 1595 Investments LtdDuffus Romans Kundzins Rounsefell Architects Ltd$30 million 112,000 sq ft
City Centre Atlantic // 5-storey residential addition Dexel Developments LtdMichael Napier Architecture $18 million100,000 sq ft
United Gulf Towers // two 27-storey mixed-use towersUnited Gulf DevelopmentsHariri Pontarini Architects661,000 sq ft$180 millionhariripontarini.com
Nova Centre // Convention centre, 14-storey office and 18-storey hotelRank IncNoel Fowler Architect$300 million1,200,000 sq ftnovacentre.ca / conventioncentreinfo.com
Barrington Espace // 5-storey mixed-use retail and officeStarfish Properties LtdDavid F. Garrett ArchitectsFirst application to be approved through HRM by Designstarfishproperties.ca34,600 sq ft
Roy Building Site // 16-storey mixed-use Starfish Properties LtdDRSA Envision Architecture268,000 sq ft
Discovery Centre14-storey retail/office or retail/office/residential 1595 Investments LtdDuffus Romans Kundzins Rounsefell Architects Ltd$30 million 112,000 sq ft
City Centre Atlantic // 5-storey residential addition Dexel Developments LtdMichael Napier Architecture $18 million100,000 sq ft
United Gulf Towers // two 27-storey mixed-use towersUnited Gulf DevelopmentsHariri Pontarini Architects661,000 sq ft$180 millionhariripontarini.com
Altus Group was engaged to estimate municipal taxes per type of square foot-age that would be charged for new de-velopment. A formula was developed, applicable to any development that as-signed the following low/high taxes per square foot: Office $9.00/$10.50; Re-tail $9.00/$17.00; Hotel $4.25/$6.25; Residential Condominium $4.00/$6.00; Multi-Unit Residential $1.25/$1.75; Parking $345/$460 per space.
Types of square footages were, where possible, obtained from the developer, or estimated. Developments were then assigned a total annual municipal tax value, using the Altus Group formula. These estimates are meant to give a realistic range of the tangible value to the municipal tax base. The timing of construction, as well as the final com-position of type of square footage would impact these estimates. Actual taxes would only be realized by charging the municipal tax rate to the assessment of the final project.
Have ideas on how to make Halifax a better place? Public participation is criti-cal to successful development. There’s opportunity to get involved at various scales; have your say at the project, policy, or social level.
At the project level, development proj-ects of a certain size are required to have public engagement sessions. Keep an eye out for notices in the newspaper ad-vertising public engagement sessions.
You can also have your say at the policy level. Plan amendments require a public hearing, and that gives you a chance to speak directly to Council, whether to of-fer your support or opposition.
There are many individuals, groups and organizations working to make Halifax a better place to live. The PDC whole-heartedly believes that together we can accomplish much more than we can in-dividually.
As such, in the coming weeks we pro-pose a meeting of interested and poten-tial collaborators. If you are interested in attending this meeting, please get in touch.
November 26 at 6:00pm Critical Mass Bike Ride Victoria Park Corner of Spring Garden & South Park
November 30 at 6:00pm Halifax Regional Council regular session Halifax City Hall 1841 Argyle Street 902.490.4210
December 1 at 12:00pmCiclovia Working Group meetingCities & Environment Unit offices5257 Morris Street902.494.3678
December 7 at 6:00pmHalifax Regional Council regular session Halifax City Hall 1841 Argyle Street 902.490.4210
December 15 at 12:00pmSustainable Transportation Task ForceCities & Environment Unit offices5257 Morris Street902.494.3678
seeking Collaborators
*Not including the convention centre
Development Low High
Nova Centre* $3,433,000 $6,271,000
City Centre Atlantic $525,000 $775,000
Espace $311,000 $447,000
Waterside $752,000 $943,000
TD $810,000 $990,000
Discovery Centre $1,028,000 $1,245,000
International Place $3,696,000 $4,746,000
Roy Building $2,356,000 $2,890,000
TexPark $2,729,000 $3,984,000
Queens Landing $1,881,000 $2,514,000
NFB $252,000 $420,000
Salter Block $1,437,000 $2,359,000
Chicken Burger $180,000 $254,000
Victoria Suites $173,000 $226,000
NSPI $1,474,000 $1,726,000
Seaport Market $414,000 $756,000
Trillium $867,000 $1,305,000
Cunard Block $838,000 $1,343,000
YMCA $1,830,000 $2,617,750
Brewery Market $1,180,000 $1,914,000
Total $27,739,358 $39,460,770 seek is printed on FSC-certified paper.
The table below outlines estimated tax yields for proposed, approved and under construction developments.
