photo: Camp Hill Cemetery fence at Robie & Jubliee. I’ve seen HRM repair this hole 3+ times and every time, the people open it up again. This happened again this month. When we restore the fence on this side, I’ve asked for a gate or gap to be left here. People enjoy walking in the cemetery, not along Robie. #desirepath
Our fifteenth council meeting of 2026 was held on Tuesday, 15 September. It was a doozy for me as the downtown councillor. There were three motions brought by other councillors; two that I am ok with and one that I am not. Another learning opportunity for me!
The full meeting agenda, reports and video recording as well as the draft Minutes are linked below.
Halifax Regional Council – September 15, 2026
September 15, 2026 Regional Council Draft Minutes | Halifax.ca
10.1 HeadStart Tennis Dome – Gorsebrook Park
(Staff) “Motion: That Halifax Regional Council:
1. Decline the current proposal for the construction of the HeadStart Tennis Dome at this time;
2. Direct staff to undertake community and stakeholder consultation regarding the proposed HeadStart Tennis Dome at Gorsebrook Park in accordance with the HRM Community Engagement Strategy, following approval of Phase One of the Gorsebrook Park Plan through HRM’s capital budget and the subsequent commencement of the project; and
3. Direct staff to re-engage with HeadStart Tennis following completion of the community and stakeholder consultation set forth in Recommendation 2 of the staff report dated July 29, 2026 and return to the Community Planning and Economic Development Standing Committee with recommendations informed by the consultation results and engagement with HeadStart Tennis.”
This matter was deferred from our 25 August 2026 HRM Council Meeting. I requested that the item deferred, so that I would have a chance to talk to my colleagues about the state of affairs in Gorsebrook Park and encourage them to support any budget line items in the future to improve our public space, but I did not intend to bring a further motion, because I was satisfied that between with my recent conversations with staff and Councillor Cuttell’s washroom strategy motion (item 15.5.1 from 25 August 2026), we have the tools in place to make progress.
Gorsebrook Park | Park Planning | Halifax was passed in 2020.
Phase 1 of the plan involves improving the west baseball field (enlarge and add lights) and removing the west baseball field.
Phase 2 includes (re)moving the tennis courts to be installed beside the ball hockey(/cricket) court and adding a 4th tennis court (pickleball could be a part of this new pad).
Phase 3 includes adding a washroom to the park.
Gorsebrook Park is one of five high-need parks HRM Parks Washrooms and Drinking Fountains Strategy due for a washroom. Of the five high-need park facilities, it is one of three that are waiting for a dedicated washroom (as opposed to a mini washroom).
Inglis Street has been upzoned from the park to Tower Road on the north side as HR-2 in June 2024. Wellington Street has new HR-1 buildings recently completed on it. Robie Street has been upzoned in June 2024 in some places, and we have the CEN-2 tall 30 ~ish storey towers approved and in progress at Robie and Spring Garden. This is all great for HRM and D7, but we need our parks to handle a lot more people in the future (and we need BRT).
What was fantastic about this conversation (which followed our presentation from Derek Martin of the Wanderers) is that council discussed the fact that our new parks budget this year is $500k.
In the spirit of working with private sector partners as we are considering with the Wanderers, many councillors wanted to continue to work with HeadStart now or proceed with public consultation now to avoid missing out on the funding they have available from Tennis Canada to place a dome over tennis courts at Gorsebrook Park.
Many councillors commented on how inadequately we have funded our Parks staff to follow through on our grand plans for a growing municipality. I’ve asked for a meeting with staff ASAP to discuss bringing a budget motion suggesting we increase this going forward.
We voted on the three motions above separately. They all passed 15 – 2, 17 – 0 and 17 – 0 respectively.
Then Councillor Cuttell got the ok from us (2/3 majority vote) to proceed with her two supplementary report motions:
“THAT Halifax Regional Council direct the Chief Administrative Officer to:
1. Prepare a supplemental report on status of park plans currently identified across the municipality, and
2. Prepare a supplemental report to return to council before the year end to assess the feasibility and cost implications of moving ahead with a dome on the current courts.”
Her first motion passed unanimously.
I was not in favour of her second motion because:
a) there are 3 courts there now, not 4
b) the courts are not in ideal condition for enhancement
c) building a dome there would derail progress on our Gorsebrook Park Plan, as we are supposed to have a great lawn in that area, and it is part of Phase 2, which cannot be completed until Phase 1 is at least in progress
d) it would be expensive to build the dome infrastructure there and then build it again when the courts move
Her second motion passed 9 – 8 with the oddest combination of council members voting “No”: Mayor Fillmore, Councillor Deagle Gammon, Austin, White, Cleary, Morse, Steele, Young. I love municipal politics!
The good news is that Gorsebrook Park has the ongoing attention of staff and council. Staff have let me know that the supplementary report should not take too long to work though. I look forward to next steps!
13.3.1 Wanderers Grounds Proposal
First, we heard a proposal from Derek Martin, ignited by our tender recently released to buy the bleachers at the Wanderers grounds, rather than continuing to rent them. We asked questions of clarification and then Councillor Mancini brough a motion:
Motion: “THAT Halifax Regional Council direct the Chief Administrative Officer to prepare a staff report in response to the proposal to Regional Council on September 15, 2026 for a stadium on the Wanderers grounds and use of Maybank Park to host a training facility and an interim home field and including analysis of:
1. The feasibility of reallocating funds currently allocated in the capital budget for the purchase of bleachers to the groundwork required for water and electricity,
2. The feasibility of the proposal, including evaluating the proposed stadium facility against considerations such as existing and needed upgrades to infrastructure (e.g. water and sewer), planning, governance, community benefit, traffic and transportation, real estate, compliance with legal authorities, risk consideration, and policy compliance, among others.
3. Financial implications of the proposal, including any anticipated direct or indirect capital and operating costs for the Municipality, available funding sources and capital budget capacity, and the relationship of the proposal to existing and planned municipal capital projects.
4. Relationship of the proposal to Council’s existing direction from August 19. 2025, to staff that included confirming the interests of prospective funding contributions from tenants, proponents, and other orders of government to determine the viability of the uses and proposals as outlined in the Functional Plan.
I confirmed that no amendment to the motion was necessary to ensure that both this response and the response to our 19 August 2025 HRM Council Meeting motion come back to us at the same time.
I think that downtown, or at least on the peninsula is the right place for the Wanderers and Tides to play.
My concerns with the sales pitch include: the above ground parking, the 99-year lease, the risk of losing the vital trees lining Sackville Street, the concert noise impacts on the public gardens and on the horses of Halifax etc., but I love the vibrancy that the teams bring to our home. I look forward to reading our staff perspective that is coming to us on 08 December 2026.
The motion passed 15 – 1. I voted Yes.
18.2 Councillor Cleary – Affordable Housing in private development along Robie Street
Motion:
“That Halifax Regional Council direct the Chief Administrative Officer to provide a staff report to consider initiating amendments to the Regional Centre Secondary Municipal Planning Strategy for Robie Street, Halifax between Bliss Street and Binney Street to establish site-specific policies to increase the maximum permitted building height in exchange for on-site perpetual affordable housing units by identifying key review issues and a community engagement process.”
(I added the words in italics.)
Councillor Cleary brough this idea to me a couple weeks ago. I did lose a lot of sleep over the idea but ultimately decided I am ok to seek a staff report on this. The idea is coming from the fact that staff advised against implementing inclusionary zoning 14 April 2026 HRM Council Meeting: Item 10.1 back in April because it is so expensive to build right now, but they did say we could implement the policy (we have the legislation to do so) on a case by case basis. What we did not discuss at that time was upzoning.
My concerns with the idea are:
- Land speculation. If developers think they can get more rights for market housing by building some affordable housing, will they build anything at all, or delay or sell? These lots have been vacant for some time already.
- Proximity to residents on Edward Street. This block was zoned as 4 storeys in the Centre Plan, then 9 storeys with HAF, and now this developer is proposing 20 storeys.
- cemetery tree health: with a lot of tall buildings around it, will the cemetery grass and trees be ok?
What is interesting about this proposal is:
- up to 55 units at 20% below market rent forever
- in changing from a mid-rise to high-rise form, the building massing will change (step backs and thinner towers). This could have a positive influence on the amount of sun residents close by will get, and depending on the design, the risk of wind effects could change.
- with a development agreement, perhaps the transition design to the ER-3 zone could be negotiated for the better
- adding homes in the regional centre is good climate policy – the closer we live together, the fewer people are driving around
When I spoke to staff I understand that they may share some of my concerns, and the flight path for the hospital helicopters is a factor too. The 20 storeys is not all or nothing, perhaps a few extra floors is suitable for this location, or none at all. We will see what our educated staff opinion is.
The vote passed unanimously.
21.2 Memorandum from the Acting Chief Administrative Officer dated August 17, 2026 re: Conversion of Argyle Street to Year-Round Pedestrian Zone