28 January HRM Council Meeting: Strategic Performance Report & Windsor Street Exchange

Happy Friday, all. Today I’d like to share a brief recap of our council meeting this week.

Our second council meeting of the year was held on Tuesday, 28 January. The full meeting agenda, reports and video recording are linked below.

Halifax Regional Council – January 28, 2025

Item 41.1 Strategic Performance Report 2023/24

This item was an “Information Item Brought Forward”, meaning there was nothing to vote on. Councillor Mancini pulled it off the Information Items list during our 14 January meeting, as it is an important topic for discussion. We received a presentation from staff and then had the opportunity to comment and ask questions. The report speaks to our progress towards priorities and outcomes in our 2021-2025 Strategic Priorities Plan.

My main points raised during the discussion were:

1) How do we ensure our budget is in line with our strategic plans? How much money do we spend on each priority?

We do a lot of things at HRM, from collecting the trash to providing police and fire services to road works to awarding grants to community groups etc. We seem to be good at identifying priorities in strategic plans, but I think many of us feel that our progress towards meeting these goals is missing the mark (i.e. the AAA bike network was originally supposed to be complete in 2022, yet to date we are only 60% complete). This may be related to underfunding of some priorities.

Our CAO indicated that we will start the budget process with a holistic look at where our funds are allocated, before diving into the details of each business unit budget. I will be looking to further align our spending with our priorities as we dig into the process next week.

2) I think our Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) do not all align well with the goals we are trying to meet. For example, for our “Affordable Communities” priority we are trying to “demonstrate leadership and foster partnerships that provide access to a range of quality, affordable municipal amenities and services, including housing options, in safe vibrant communities.” Transit is a service that we provide, yet we do not monitor the price of transportation in any form here.

I was glad to hear that staff agree that our KPIs should be improved.

We are also working on our 2026-2030 strategic plan soon – my session with 6 councillors and staff is on Monday. Council will have input into which KPIs we use to measure our progress against our goals for this new plan.

 

Item15.1.1 Windsor Street Exchange Redevelopment Project: Functional Design

“Motion:
That Halifax Regional Council:

1. Suspend the rules of procedure under Schedule 7, the Transportation Standing Committee Terms of Reference, of Administrative Order One, the Procedures of the Council Administrative Order; and,

2. Direct the Chief Administrative Officer to proceed with the Windsor Street Exchange project, as per the current funding agreement and Design Build contract, including future proofing new structures along the corridor where municipal lands permit, to accommodate future dedicated transit lanes and separated pedestrian and cycling facilities.”

This motion failed. I voted No.

My reasoning is quite straightforward. The design that staff were asking for our approval to proceed with:

1) adds capacity for general traffic through the intersection and

2) does not include an outbound bus lane.

Council/Transportation Standing Committee asked for bus lanes (and separate facilities for pedestrians and active transportation users) multiple times. Staff said that they cannot accommodate this request under the current funding agreement.

It has been demonstrated over and over around the world that adding capacity for general vehicle traffic induces demand for more traffic to use the roads. This design may ease traffic congestion for a few years, but then we will be back in the same congested bottleneck situation as more drivers use the road. I understand the need to move goods more efficiently by truck into and out of the port, but I think we should be trying to accomplish this (reducing traffic congestion) by encouraging people to choose other modes of transportation for rush hour trips. We can encourage a modal shift by providing improved transit service and safe spaces to walk, roll, cycle etc.

I feel that the funding requirements staff were trying to meet are holding us back from designing this intersection in line with our strategic plans.

 

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