Our eighteenth council meeting of the year was held on Tuesday, 23 September 2025.
The full meeting agenda, reports and video recording are linked below.
Halifax Regional Council – September 23, 2025
The draft Minutes are posted here:
September 23, 2025 Regional Council Draft Minutes | Halifax.ca
10.1 PLPROJ-2024-01075: Dartmouth Cove Water Lots (Amended)
15.1.1 2026/2027 Budget Schedule (& 15.1.2 Fall 2025 Temporary Borrowing Resolution & Debenture)
“Motion:
That Halifax Regional Council approve the proposed 2026/27 Budget Schedule as outlined in the staff report dated September 17, 2025.
15.6.1 Proposed Amendments to Administrative Order 2021-005-OP, Respecting Traffic Calming
That Halifax Regional Council adopt the amendments to Administrative Order 2021-005-OP, the Administrative Order Respecting Traffic Calming, as shown in Attachment 2 of the staff report dated May 26, 2025.”
This motion was recommended by the Transportation Standing Committee, in relation to center median traffic calming installation on Colby Drive that did not calm traffic, and local residents agree unanimously needs to be removed and replaced with speed tables.
While I do support this course of action, I do not support changing the AO to allow a path forward for an early removal of the installation. I like how the current AO policy is to wait for the next time road work is required in the area, to save costs. (The AO does allow for removal if the Traffic Authority deems them to be unsafe already, so no policy change is needed if the installation was deemed to be unsafe.) Also, because the budget for traffic calming is fixed, I don’t want to see other projects awaiting implementation be delayed because funds are instead going to a removal.
The motion passed 16-1. I voted No.
15.7.1 Councillor White – Parking Benefit Districts and Dynamic Pricing
That Halifax Regional Council direct the Chief Administrative Officer to provide a staff report that investigates the potential to create parking benefit districts (PBDs) and the institution of dynamic pricing for on-street parking.”
This motion is for a staff report, so our knowledgeable staff can bring forward their recommendations based on our local context.
I brought this motion forward after discussion with Public Works and Business Improvement Districts. It is a topic of interest to me and I listed parking reform as something I wanted to work on during the election campaign as a move towards financial sustainability. Detailed consultation with stakeholders will follow if any changes are recommended for implementation.
The benefits of dynamic curbside parking pricing are increased spot availability, decreased congestion, and increased revenue to use on either local projects or general operating or capital budgets.
If you are interested in learning more about these and other parking reform topics, I recommend an internet search on the topic, or the books Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains to World (and easy read) and The High Cost of Free Parking (a longer textbook; you can borrow mine). One thing HRM has already implemented is removing parking minimums in developments in the urban service area, which allows for cost savings and increased density for housing, and more human scale, market driven development.