Our sixteenth council meeting of 2026 was held on Tuesday, 29 September.
The full meeting agenda, reports and video recording are linked below.
Halifax Regional Council – September 29, 2026
14.1 Councillor Steele – Nova Scotia Capped Assessment Program Impacts
I wrote a separate post for this one: Nova Scotia Capped Assessment Program Impacts
14.3 Councillor White – Conversion of Argyle Street to Year-Round Pedestrian Zone
“Motion:
That Halifax Regional Council direct the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) to prepare and recommend:
1. A draft by-law to establish a pedestrian mall on Argyle Street between Prince and Sackville Streets and between Sackville and Blowers Streets.
2. the preferred approach to enable daily servicing access to the proposed pedestrian mall at designated and periodic times, including the consideration of using retractable bollards
3. options to mitigate concerns about accessible patron drop off and parking
4. options to heighten awareness of pedestrians crossing Sackville Street at Argyle Street, and
5. cost estimates for the above and their impact on the four-year capital plan and/or operating budgets”
I brought a motion last August on this topic, as requested by DHBC (Item 15.6.2), as I wholeheartedly agree:
19 August 2025 HRM Council Meeting: Wanderers, Special Events, Regional Plan, Argyle Pedestrian Zone
This resulted in staff bringing back an information rather than a recommendation report, which surprised me, but I believe that the reason is there are budget implications, and they have direction to keep budget line items status-quo (Item 16.1):
I worked with staff to draft the motion above, based on the feedback from local businesses and the public, and my interest in using retractable bollards rather than gates on Argyle.
Council enthusiastically supported the motion, and Councillor Mancini added an item to consider increased street cleaning in the area, as he is as tired as the rest of is of seeing gum all over our beautiful pavers etc. I supported this friendly amendment but know that it will take coordination with local businesses to make a success.
The motion passed unanimously 17 – 0.
15.1.2 MPSA-2025-01528 – Amendments to the Regional Centre Secondary Municipal Planning Strategy and Regional Centre Land Use By-Law for side and rear setback requirements for high-rise buildings in the Downtown Halifax Zone
(staff) “Motion:
That Halifax Regional Council give First Reading to consider 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 September 18, 2026, to reduce the minimum setback from side and rear lot lines for portions of a building above 33.5 metres in the DH Zone if the abutting property has a rampart sight line restriction that would not permit the development of a high-rise building and schedule a public hearing.”
An applicant requested this change for one property, and staff recommend changing the Centre Plan so that the rules apply to all three properties in this situation. It aligns the rules for rampart sight lines and view plan restrictions in the Downtown Halifax Zone.
This motion passed on the consent agenda.
15.6.1 HRTG-2026-02077: Request to Include 1102 South Park Street, Halifax in the Registry of Heritage Properties for the Halifax Regional Municipality
“(Heritage Advisory Committee) Motion:
That Halifax Regional Council set a date for a heritage hearing to consider the inclusion of 1102 South Park Street, Halifax in the Registry of Heritage Property for the Halifax Regional Municipality.”
This motion passed on the consent agenda.
15.7.1 Councillor White – Support for Wije’winen Centre’s Application to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) Green Municipal Fund (GMF) Adaptation in Action Program
“Motion:
That Halifax Regional Council direct the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) to provide a staff report to consider a Municipal letter of support and partnership parameters for Wije’winen Centre’s application to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) Green Municipal Fund (GMF) Adaptation in Action Program.”
This request is in response to conversations resulting from the 17 February 2026 presentation to ESSC and CPED from the Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre (Pam Glode Desrochers) requesting $3M in funding from HRM for the Wije’winen Centre’s greenspace/green infrastructure landscape.
Up to $1M in funding could be available through this GMF climate adaptation funding program, which encourages indigenous collaboration with municipalities.
Council direction is required to provide this in-kind support to the MNFC.
The motion passed unanimously 17 – 0.
FYI Fundraising Gala Saturday night! See you there?
Individual tickets (up to 3 per transaction) can be purchased through this link:
You can use the link below to purchase your tickets:
Gala Tickets | Get Your Gala Tickets Today — Wije’winen
Once you’re on the page, simply select the “Add to Cart”, then click on “View Cart” to choose the quantity of 2, and proceed through checkout.”
16.1 Mayor Fillmore
“Motion:
That Halifax Regional Council direct the Chief Administrative Officer to provide a staff report to conduct a comprehensive review of the decision to establish the Mayor’s Office as an independent office, following the one-year anniversary of the decision.”
This is the first motion that our new CAO, Marnie Cluckie, had perspective to share with council on. She indicated that this review would be conducted externally.
This motion made me (and others by the sounds of the debate) uncomfortable, but we went ahead and approved it unanimously 16 – 0.
Below is the motion from August 12, 2026 Audit and Finance Standing Committee | Halifax that council would like to know the outcome from before extending resources on the mayor’s motion. Former Acting CAO, Brad Anguish, assured us that the text of the report due in October is set and will not be delayed or altered by the mayor’s motion. Councillor Deagle Gammon’s original motion text is in italics. The rest was added by Mayor Fillmore as a friendly amendment.
THAT the Audit and Finance Standing Committee direct the Chief Administrative Officer to develop an action plan regarding the Office of the Mayor Expenses Audit that addresses internal
corrective measures and other steps taken as a consequence of the internal administrative review conducted by staff into this matter, including:
1. identify the respective responsibilities of the Mayor’s Office, Procurement, Finance, Accounts Payable, Legal Services and senior approving authorities at each stage of the
four transactions examined by the Auditor General;
2. any gaps identified in approval, documentation, financial controls, procurement controls or other internal controls, and corrective measures taken or proposed to address them;
3. report corrective measures taken or proposed in relevant business units to address whether those corrective measures should apply municipality-wide, and if not, why office
specific treatment is justified;
4. consideration to the Auditor General’s planned municipality-wide procurement audit to
avoid duplication;
and report back to the Audit and Finance Standing Committee within two months.