The Chronicle Herald (Provincial)
Common pool legislation passes hurdle
The chief executive of Halifax Regional Municipality spun an ultra-positive yarn about the proposed new pool and splashpad for the Halifax Common on Thursday.
His enthusiasm was not unanimous.
Speaking to the legislature's law amendments committee, Jacques Dube called a new pool on the Common a “much-needed recreational infrastructure in central Halifax.”
The CAO said Halifax regional council in 2019 requested the province change the HRM charter to provide the municipality authority to replace the Common aquatic facility, including a pool, splashpad and accessory buildings at an estimated cost of $16.25 million.
“The Halifax Common outdoor pool built in the 1960s is the oldest outdoor facility in the municipality's inventory and it is at the end of its life cycle,” Dube said.
The project has been identified by HRM as an immediate priority, he said.
“There is a high risk of permanent closure of the existing pool facility, resulting in a loss
of access to outdoor swimming and aquatic recreation on the Halifax peninsula,” Dube said.
David Garrett, who spoke at the committee meeting along with his co-chairman of the Friends of Halifax Common group, Alan Ruffman, said the Common has been continually diminishing in size since its creation by royal decree over 200 years ago as a 97-hectare grant for the use as commons forever by the inhabitants of the town of Halifax.
“Each generation has found needs for the Common because of its central location and immense other features,” Garrett said. “One parcel after another, one generation after another.”
Green space has been transformed into parking areas, he said, and recent needs have included the expansion of Citadel High School, a vast expansion of the Halifax Infirmary, new parking garages supplementary to the Infirmary, a soccer stadium, the oval and now an aquatic centre.
“Perhaps these needs are necessary and needed in these locations and perhaps not but the point remains, the diminishment of the Halifax Common continues, and now at an even greater pace than before and it will certainly continue in coming generations until the Common, as a large, public open green space is gone.
“It can happen.” Garrett said the Friends of the Common advocate that before any further major steps are taken to repurpose parts of the Common that the comprehensive master plan for the Common, now in its fourth year of development by HRM, receive the full public consultation
it requires, both politically and legally, and be approved by council.
“The piecemeal approach to fulfilling various perceived needs without full public consultation, as happened in the spring of 2020 with council approval of the Summer Street parking garages as part of the Infirmary, and more recently with the approval of the aquatic centre funding, is not an acceptable approach.”
Ruffman told the committee that one building was part of the initial proposal for a new pool but that a presentation to council in 2019 included a coloured diagram with two buildings to be constructed, one for male and female change rooms and another as a community building.
Ruffman said demolition of the existing building is already slated for this fall and construction of the new building is to take place over more than a one-year span with an opening date planned for the summer of 2023.
“It would appear that the legislature is being asked to approve only one building but the plans indicate that there are two buildings,” Ruffman said. “This uncertainty exists because while there were public consultation meetings in 2017 and 2018, no final proposed aquatic centre plan was brought to the public in 2019 and at no time since.”
Ruffman said the longsought Halifax Common master plan has stalled and ceases to be a priority for HRM staff and regional council.
Ruffman asked that the law amendments committee set aside the bill that would change the charter to accommodate the aquatic centre until “HRM, with full public consultation, completes the master plan for the Halifax Common.”
Dube said the existing facility is unsightly, not up to accessibility standards and is non-functional as a recreational pool.
“There has been a public outcry that the existing facility is in dire need of replacement,” Dube said, adding that there has been significant consultation about the project through its inclusion in the larger longterm municipal aquatics strategy and the Common master plan.
Dube said public engagement for the Halifax Common master plan involved 2,400 people and four public meetings, two online surveys, a youth focus group and stakeholder and organization focus groups.
“The survey had considerable support for the replacement of the outdoor aquatic facility,” Dube said. “Many confirmed the need for an outdoor swimming pool on the Common.”
Dube conceded that some concern was raised about the size of the proposed new building and its impact on the green space.
Friends of Halifax Common have asked the premier and the legislature numerous times for protection of the Common.
The law amendments committee voted to send the bill to change the HRM charter back to the House without amendment.