Halifax councillors work to prevent construction projects from encroaching on sidewalks

There’s a construction boom underway in Halifax, which is putting pressure on public infrastructure like roadways and sidewalks, says HRM Coun. Shawn Cleary.

“If you go back about 10 years, there weren’t these development pressures and, in fact, Halifax’s population was stagnating and it’s just in the last six or seven years we’ve seen a lot more development,” said Cleary.

Many of the high-rise development projects are encroaching or taking over sidewalks and parts of roadways. It’s an issue Cleary says council often deals with as they try to determine ways to contain the construction.

“You are going to have this interplay between new buildings going up and parts of the right-of-way, especially sidewalks sometimes being take over,” said Cleary.

According to Cleary, developers whose developments encroach on sidewalks and into the streets have to pay fees to “rent that space.”

As development spreads onto the sidewalks and roadways, it raises safety concerns, says HRM Coun. Kathryn Morse.

“We’re in a housing boom and we’re in a construction boom and that’s good. It’s just that we’re seeing construction throughout the city and into new areas,” said Morse. “And we need to find ways to live with that and make it safer for everybody.”

Morse says people in Fairview, in particular, have been reaching out and feeling pinched with construction cutting into right-of-ways and closing sidewalks and traffic lanes.

It’s a fine balance says Morse. On one hand, there is a housing crisis in Halifax and there is not enough housing supply. As developers respond, you’ll see more and more buildings going up and encroaching further on right-of-ways, especially sidewalks.

Morse made a motion during a council meeting on Tuesday, directing staff to examine ways to better contain these development projects and to come back with a report.

“I’m hoping what comes back from this report is ways that we can keep construction on private property and keep it outside the roads and sidewalks wherever possible,” said Morse. “And when it’s not possible I have asked them to look at fees to see if there are ways we can make it more of an incentive to reduce the time in the right-of-way and roads and sidewalks.”

Disability advocate Paul Vienneau says he’s encouraged by council's attempt to contain the construction sprawl. He knows firsthand the dangers and accessibility issues brought on by closing sidewalks.

“People have been asking for it for years and for this kind of thing to be taken more seriously,” said Vienneau. “I have so many friends that it (closed sidewalks) has really messed over and it’s messed me over plenty of times too and so I hope they treat it very seriously.”

Cleary supports the staff report and says more can be done to protect public space.

“We’re doing construction mitigation relatively well, given that we’ve only been doing it for the last few years, but there’s definitely room for improvement,” said Cleary.

Milena Khazanavicius, a blind accessibility advocate with Walk n’ Roll Halifax, says the problem starts with council permitting developers to construct buildings that border up against the sidewalk.

“They aren’t leaving any room at all,” said Khazanavicius. “That‘s the real problem.”

However, she does support council and its attempt to look at ways to contain construction sites from encroaching on public spaces, but questions how long the report will take.

“Another study? Come on … how many studies do we need?” said Khazanavicius.

“We need HRM staff to coordinate properly with the developers during the CMP (construction mitigation plan) and make sure nobody gets hurt.”

Morse says she’s hopeful the staff report will be published by early spring.