A plan to fix the Halifax Forum by selling some of its land to developers is moving forward.
City Council approved the plan without debate during a special council meeting on Tuesday. The next step will be scheduling another round of public consultations.
Halifax city staff recently finished a report that lays out the plan, which is an update on the redevelopment project for the forum that has been in the works for years.
In 2019, staff came to council with a plan to save the forum by pumping as much as $89-million into repairs and replacements on the site.
Facing such a hefty price tag, council asked staff to investigate partnerships that might offset some of the cost.
As part of their investigation, city staff put out feelers with dozens of developers to gauge interest in the forum site.
Some local companies said they’d like to build on the property. But because none really want a partnership with the city, staff recommend portioning off a parcel of land to sell, instead.
They suggest the north portion of the property, on the corner of Young and Windsor Streets, is the best option.
That land is in an area the city wants to see built up with high-density developments, making them more attractive than other parts of the property that would only permit smaller buildings.
Staff didn’t say how much the land could sell for, only that “the value of the proposed site could be significant.
Selling a section of the forum property does create a problem: it slashes the amount of parking on the site significantly.
Right now, the forum has about 500 parking spaces. The 2019 redevelopment plan would shrink that number to 350.
Most of those 350 parking spaces would be in a parking garage on the part of the property staff recommend selling.
Giving the land over to a developer means no parking garage, leaving the redeveloped forum with only 150 parking spaces.
That’s a lot less than the 270 spaces the HFCA says it needs.
Staff admits parking would be an issue under their plan, although not a giant one. They say scrapping the proposed parkland on the site would be a “straightforward” solution.
Completely eliminating any parkland would leave room for 280 parking spaces, although staff recognize “the elimination of a valued community asset…has other consequences.”
That’s especially true as densification around the forum increases: more people living in the area means more demand for public space, which the forum parkland could provide.
The Halifax Forum concept site plan. Image: Halifax Regional Municipality
Meanwhile, another proposed change would add more multi-purpose space to the revamped forum.
The 2019 plan would have reduced multi-purpose space in the forum from about 40,000 square feet to less than 8,000 square feet.
The HFCA says it doesn’t need the full 40,000 but said 8,000 wasn’t enough. Staff says some changes to the design of the new forum would allow for an extra 6,700 square feet of multi-purpose space, bringing the total to about 14,500.
However, that change will mean a $2.5 million increase to the overall price tag.
Council will weigh in on staff’s recommendations at its August 31 staff meeting. After that, staff plan to hold public engagement sessions to get a read on how Haligonians feel about the proposed changes.
(**With files from Skye Bryden-Blom)
Trevor Nichols is a reporter with HuddleToday.ca. Huddle Today Limited and Acadia Broadcasting Limited are each part of the Ocean Capital Group
