Council eyes demolition bylaw

Halifax regional council reconvened for the first time in 2021 on Tuesday to discuss — at length — topics such as improving street safety and introducing a bylaw that requires landlords to legally evict tenants before receiving a demolition permit.

The virtual meeting spanned most of the day, featuring moments of voice raising, dog barking and utter confusion among councillors.

Here’s what took place:

DEMOLITIONS

In light of a Chronicle Herald report of a man who was evicted from his Halifax apartment by demolition on Dec. 4, Coun. Shawn Cleary moved that Halifax Regional Council request a staff report on a bylaw for a permit process covering demolitions of buildings in HRM.

This, Cleary said, should ensure demolition permits are not granted “until such time as municipal staff are satisfied that the provincial residential tenancies eviction order process has reached its conclusion, including any appeals that are lawfully made by tenants.”

“Only if we put in place a process that says you must have this checklist completed before you get your demolition permit, which I’m sure we have, but obviously doesn’t include checking to see if everyone’s been lawfully evicted,” he added.

Cleary said he's seeking a “safety valve for residents” as more development happens in the municipality.

While HRM and the provincial Department of Labour and Advanced Education issued a stop work order after the demolition happened at the building on the corner of Oxford and North Streets on Dec. 4, Cleary said it was too late.

“The horse has left the barn and I think we can never let this happen again,” he added.

Councillors voted overwhelmingly in favour of the motion.

STREET SAFETY

Amid discussion of the council's 2021-2025 Strategic Priorities Plan, Coun. Becky Kent said it's “glaringly worth questioning” whether street safety is acknowledged as a key priority for Halifax regional council, since it's a key priority among constituents.

“Without question, the number one thing that comes to me as a councillor in a few short months, but I've heard for many, many years, but more than ever, is around street safety. When I look at this and I only sort of see it mentioned, I'm not sure that we're hitting the mark,” she said.

Kent stressed that while it is important to end fatalities on streets, residents should also feel a sense of safety in their communities “without fear of a huge event that may or may not be addressed in our priorities.”

Several councillors, including Coun. Patty Cuttell, echoed Kent's remarks.

“What we're asking for here is a new strategy. We need a whole new approach. Having a waitlist of 30 years for traffic calming, crosswalks ... it's just not acceptable,” said Cuttell.

Brad Anguish, HRM executive director of transportation and public works, said there's a “broad-based” acceptance that street safety is a council priority, but councillors now need to provide “detailed feedback” as to which areas require the most attention.

Deputy Mayor Tim Outhit noted that a “child was hit on the way to school' in West Bedford on Monday “and of course that gets all of us upset.”

Outhit said he believes the location of crosswalk signs should be changed in some areas and hopes that new regulations in the province's Traffic Safety Act will allow HRM to regulate signs and implement other measures to improve street safety.

He added he's “very, very concerned” about the list of about 300 streets that have been approved for street calming and another 180 that are “about ready to be evaluated.”

“There's nothing worse than calling somebody who just had a car blow by them or had their child injured or had an incident on the way home from work and say, ‘Yup, you're on the list. Hopefully in 10 to 20 years we'll be able to do something,'“said Outhit.

Outhit questioned how the municipality can “knock off” some of the time it takes to have traffic calming implemented on different streets to have them addressed over a “two to five-year period, perhaps.”

Anguish said the municipality's current administrative order for traffic calming is “not working,” as the “limited resources are not getting to the top priorities.”

There are about 2,900 streets that qualify for traffic calming in HRM under the administrative order, but it would take 200 years “at the current rate of speed” and cost the municipality roughly $140 million to implement speed bumps on those streets, Anguish noted.

“That just underscores the point that what I'm hearing from councillors (is) we're not getting to the priority areas fast enough, the AO'S not going to be the simplistic guide from council to staff, we're going to have to work with you to get to the priorities faster,” he said.

“This is the realization, now we have to mobilize to do it, and so we're going to start with a policy review.”

CFL STADIUM

Halifax regional council have punted the request for staff to draw up a report on site selection for a future CFL stadium.

“The stadium, I think, is not going to be moving forward so having a report coming back with site selection for it, I think, is an exercise that doesn't need to be done. Full stop,” Coun. Paul Russell said.

The request was put forward by former councillor Steve Streatch in 2019, after municipal staff and Schooners Sport Entertainment had been floating about the idea of a stadium and CFL team for HRM.

In late 2019, council voted to provide a one-time contribution of $20 million to the $100-million stadium project, provided a new site other than Shannon Park could be found.

Near the end of December, founding partners Gary Drummond and Jim Stapleton of Schooner Sports and Entertainment told CBC News they were optimistic they could get support for a Halifax stadium after the pandemic.

But for now, the stadium and team is only a dream.

Council voted unanimously to have the site selection report be removed from staff's to-do list.

“If and when this group or some other group comes forward, which is unlikely to happen in the very near future, a council — whether it be this one or a future one — can deal with it at that time,” Cleary said.

DIESEL VS. ELECTRIC BUSES

Halifax Transit will be introducing new diesel buses to its future fleet, but only the “bare minimum.”

Dave Reage, director of Halifax Transit, told Halifax regional council Tuesday that his department has cut the number of new diesel buses replacing the outgoing ones.

Buses that can last another year or two “will do so,” Reage said, adding only those “that have to go” will be replaced.

In November, it was estimated 63 buses will be required in 2021 and 40 in 2022 as replacements for the older buses completing their life cycles.

Tuesday, council passed an advanced tender request for conventional bus replacement of nearly $16.8 million to be included in the 2021-2022 capital budget.

The replacement diesel buses are to bridge the gap as Halifax Transit looks to move to an electric fleet, as decarbonizing public transit is part of council's 2021-2025 strategic priorities plan.

Previously, Reage said electric buses won't be an option until at least 2023, as renovations and expansions to the bus garages, as well as the purchase of charging equipment are needed first.