Our seventeenth council meeting of the year was held on Tuesday, 09 September 2025.
The full meeting agenda, reports and video recording are linked below.
Halifax Regional Council – September 09, 2025
There is only one District 7 highlight for this update, so I will also comment on a few other topics of interest to me, and hopefully you!
“Motion:
That Halifax Regional Council adopt the proposed amendments to the Regional Centre Secondary Municipal Planning Strategy and Regional Centre Land Use By-law, as set out in Attachments A and B of the staff report dated July 29, 2025, to enable a 12-storey building in a tall mid-rise form at 2764-2778 Robie Street, Halifax (PID 00005181).
It is further recommended that the Halifax and West Community Council:
1. Provisionally approve the proposed development agreement for 2764-2778 Robie Street, Halifax, which shall be substantially of the same form as contained in Attachment C of the staff report dated July 29, 2025; and
2.Require the agreement be signed by the property owner within 120 days, or any extension thereof granted by Council on request of the property owner, from the date of final approval by Council and any other bodies as necessary, including applicable appeal periods, whichever is later, otherwise this approval will be void and obligations arising hereunder shall be at an end.”
These motions passed unanimously. It was this third time I recall voting on this issue as it moved through the HRM process. The developer chose to build larger sidewalks than HRM required by policy. Therefore, two more floors of height were requested to make the project work out financially.
I draw attention to it here because during public participation, Mr. Chedrawe spoke passionately about how they are betting on Halifax becoming the livable city envisioned in the Centre Plan & Integrated Mobility Plan; how important it is to get Bus Rapid Transit up and running and offer people safe active transportation pathways as an alternative to driving as we grow towards 1 million people. He also encourages us to require larger sidewalks (and consider mid-block streets for deliveries) in the center plan for new developments. You can listen to his comments and Councillor Cuttell’s follow up question and response at 8:31:20 in the meeting video.
“Motion:
That Halifax Regional Council defer consideration of any amendments to the Regional Centre Secondary Municipal Planning Strategy and Regional Centre Land Use By-law concerning the Dartmouth Cove water lots until such time that the Downtown Dartmouth Waterfront Revitalization (DDWR) Project has returned to Regional Council for consideration.”
This motion was deferred for two weeks at the request of Councillor Austin to give time for staff to prepare alternatives to council that offer us the option to initiate bylaw changs similar to what exist for the Northwest Arm. Dartmouth Cove is different, as the harbour plays a greater role in our economy that the Arm, but it is also a well-loved recreation and active transportation area. Two federal departments hold jurisdiction over these 9 pre-confederation water lots: Transport Canada and Fisheries and Oceans Canada. When HRM bylaws were brought in for the Arm, there was enthusiastic federal support to do so, in this case there is lukewarm engagement from both the provincial and federal governments.
Councillor Austin’s motion to defer for two weeks passed 15 – 2. I voted Yes.
15.1.3 Drought Monitoring and Water Delivery
That Halifax Regional Council:
1. Direct the Chief Administrative Officer to distribute drinking water to HRM residents who do not have well water available at a volume of 4L per day per person.
2. Approve an unbudgeted reserve withdrawal to be funded from the Risk Resilience Reserve (Q416) to a maximum of $200,000.
3. Direct that any funding that is received from external resources, such as the provincial or federal government, be reallocated to the Risk Resilience Reserve (Q416).”
During the debate on this motion, there was an amendment moved to request that more pick up stations be added to the water distribution operation, to reduce the drive time for residents from a maximum of 25 minutes to a maximum of 15 minutes.
This request nearly doubles the number of pick-up stations from 5 to 9. “Delivery fees and overtime costs (additional staff support)” are not eligible for reimbursement from the provincial government per the staff report and staff commentary. I don’t want to set the service expectations high enough that we cannot keep up with the level we are now going to provide until the end of this drought. This is just one very small climate adaptation line item in our budget, but unfortunately climate change is going to throw more and more at us as time passes. I do not want to overpromise on a service standard we may not be able to maintain going forward in the years to come.
The amendment passed 16-1. I voted No.
The main motion above passed unanimously.
“Motion:
That Halifax Regional Council direct the Chief Administrative Officer to prepare a staff report responding to the request of Headstart Tennis to install an air-supported dome over the four planned tennis courts at Gorsebrook Park per the park plan, including recommendations for public consultation and engagement with this organization as a stakeholder when the existing courts are at end of life.”
- HEADStart met with me in the spring about their interest in installing a seasonal dome over the new tennis courts at Gorsebrook Park when they are constructed.
- To make a dome work, there has to be a footing constructed around the courts and new courts offer that opportunity, so now is the time to engage staff on the topic, well in advance of the possible installation.
- I prepared a draft of this motion for the CPED committee, after discussing how their dome operation in Clayton Park (beside Northcliff Recreation Centre) is working out before proceeding (it’s going well for all stakeholders). I am not on the committee, so I communicated with my colleagues and staff to draft the motion.
- The motion came to council after CPED because there would be financial considerations to the project.
https://www.halifax.ca/parks-recreation/parks-trails-gardens/park-planning-projects/gorsebrook-park
Moving the rink was not something that HEADStart discussed with me prior to the CPED meeting, nor did they bring up their interest in the proposed new washroom and space to put a clubhouse trailer. Staff will let us know all the relevant concerns and pros of their proposal in their report.
I am interested in getting all the facts, pros, and cons before deciding on a path forward for Gorsebrook. We certainly are in need of more year-round sport and recreation facilities on the peninsula, so it’s worth staff taking a look at their proposal to see what the public interest is, and if the space devoted to our new tennis courts could support this seasonal upgrade or not.
This motion passed 16-1 after a short discussion. I voted Yes.
That Halifax Regional Council direct the Chief Administrative Officer to prepare a staff report that assesses and makes recommendations on the development of a community-based stewardship program for wilderness parks, that includes the identification of possible staff resources for a coordinator and other financial implications including consultation with relevant community groups.”
This motion originated from a District 7 resident’s interest in protecting our wilderness parks, especially against the risk of human caused forest fires in our warming world. Green Network Plan staff were involved in the preparation of the motion, that was first voted on at Environment & Sustainability Standing Committee.
The motion passed on the consent agenda (unanimous).
21.2 Memorandum from the Chief Administrative Officer dated July 23, 2025 re: Strong Mayor Powers
This is an information report to council as one of the outcomes of Councillor Austin’s motion on 10 July 2025.
I expect that we will learn more about the province’s intentions to move forward with legislation on this topic or not early in their session starting on 23 September. I sent a letter to Municipal Affairs Minister John Lohr on 08 September with my thoughts on this topic. My thoughts are similar to Councillor Morse’s shared here:
Atlantic News Halifax – HRM Councillor Kathryn Morse on strong mayor powers and transportation