The Chronicle Herald (Provincial)
• City unveils recovery plan
Halifax Regional Municipality's plan to implement a five-year economic development strategy next year has been hijacked by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The health crisis upheaval has instead pushed the municipality into a response and recovery strategy that was presented to regional council Tuesday.
“The pandemic has changed everything,” said Jacques Dube, the municipality's chief administrative officer. “We all understand the need to … address the acute needs of businesses in Halifax.”
Dube said council last month directed his staff, along with Halifax Development, a private-public economic development organization, to forge a recovery plan. It was thought the recovery plan could be phased in over a year.
“Now we're starting to realize that this plan may take a longer time frame, something like 18 to 24 months,” Dube said.
“The fastest way to economic recovery is stemming the spread of this disease,” said Wendy Luther, president and chief executive of Halifax Development, noting that the recovery plan must align with guidance and advice from the province's health-care experts.
The recovery plan is a three-phase approach and the timelines for moving from one phase to the next have not been defined.
The first phase is surviving the health crisis by following health directives while responding to the urgent needs of businesses and residents.
In this phase, it's imperative to ensure municipal liquidity and to protect residents by supporting the public health authority measures through outreach, communications, services and penalties, all the while maintaining essential services.
“The estimated impact of COVID-19 for HRM is $232 million this fiscal year, an estimated $188 million from that is from taxes that will not be received in a timely fashion and the remaining $44 million is from lost programming and service revenues,” Dube said.
Dube said the municipality shells out $100 million a month for operating expenses and that it has about four months of cash flow remaining.
Council is currently working to readjust the 2020-21 operating budget accordingly and municipal staff has been reduced by 1,400 positions.
The second phase of the recovery plan is stabilization and getting back to business.
The main focus of that phase is to support business planning for reopening or resuming full operations and to prepare for any public health restrictions brought on by COVID-19 resurges.
At that point, the municipality will temporarily adapt transportation networks in high-pedestrian areas, advocate for and move ahead with key infrastructure projects that stimulate the economy and address climate change while taking advantage of provincial and federal stimulus funding opportunities.
The second phase will also see the reopening and adaptation of municipal sites, buildings and non-essential services.
The partnership will address the gap of temporary foreign workers and connect students, immigrants, unemployed and underemployed with companies needing workers. The partnership will also work with the Business Investment Districts to restore the dynamism of main streets.
The third phase will be recovery, when the municipality is open for business.
The municipality will address the climate change emergency in the context of COVID-19, taking advantage of the opportunity to transition to a carbon-neutral economy by 2050 and to consolidate lessons learned from the initial pandemic responses and to capitalize on specific sector initiatives and projects that have emerged through the crisis.
Luther said the actions may overlap between phases and the economic response and recovery plan will be updated as health directives allow.
“One of this plan's key strengths is its recognition of the need to be nimble and adaptable,” Luther said. “The unprecedented and fluid nature of this crisis means that we may draw up actions, amend actions and add new actions in response to new information and changing circumstances.”
The motion to adopt the plan passed by a 16-1 vote but the most heated part of the discussion followed when Coun. Lindell Smith introduced a companion motion requesting that the CAO and staff work with the Business Improvement Districts to support the development of the recovery plan for main streets and downtown, focusing on identifying streets and green spaces that could be closed to vehicular traffic for the summer.
After some discussion about fairness in not providing an advantage for some businesses, namely restaurants and bars with extended outdoor patio space, at the expense of others, Coun. Richard Zurawski (Beechville-clayton Park-wedgewood) said talk of closing streets to traffic is premature.
“We're speaking like COVID is over,” Zurawski said. “I want to be optimistic about this. There is nothing in the science that says that we are anywhere close to being through with this. There are huge business pressures to open things up and they go counter to what I believe our primary function is, which is the safety and the health concerns of our residents. I think we're way ahead of the game here.
“I don't want to see sidewalks opened up, I don't want to see restaurants opened up, I don't want to see people out there until we get a vaccine.”
Coun. Waye Mason (Halifax South-downtown) said Smith's motion does not put the cart before the horse.
“For us to have this conversation right now is appropriate given that the earliest that Phase 2 is likely to start and restaurants are going to open for seated service is … 42 to 56 days from now.
“We're talking about doing the work now to be ready for when that will happen.”
Smith's motion passed by a 13-4 vote.