Halifax council approves new hospital parking proposal for Summer Street

Halifax regional council unanimously voted Thursday in favour of a new provincial plan for parking along Summer Street to support the redevelopment of the Halifax Infirmaryhospital site, but some council members expressed concerns about the plan.

"This is better, but this is still not a great fit in terms of what we are going to have fronting on the Common,"said Coun. Sam Austin.

The original plan had a parkade on the south side of the Museum of Natural History and a power plant at the corner of Bell Road and Summer Street.

The latest proposal has a 512-space parking garage on the north side of the museum, along with a power plant and a 1,000-space parkade across the street on the former CBC property. The revised plan means the WanderersGrounds home to Halifax's professional soccer cluband the riding ring of the Bengal Lancers will not be affected.

A special council meeting was held on Thursday to deal with the issue.

"The province is anxious to get a tender out to move this project forward as quickly as possible" saidHRMCAO Jacques Dub.

The councillor who represents Halifax South Downtown said given the location of the buildings, he hopes provincial officials come up with designsthat addto the community.

"It can't be cheap, tilt-up concrete," said Coun Waye Mason, "It has to be something that respects the historic setting of the Common."

Both Dub, and Kelly Denty, Halifax's director of planning, said they have been given assurancesthe buildings will have high-quality designs.

There will also have to be a traffic study done to determine traffic flow and the locations of the entrances for the parkades.

Community opposition

But members of the advocacy group, Friends of the Halifax Common, are still unhappy with the plans to build parking structures in the area.

"Neither the city nor the province have a strong sense of what is the real value of the Halifax Common," said Peggy Cameron."It was public, open space that was given to the citizens forever."

Cameron points out when the city of Halifax ceded the land to the province in 1968 for the Museum of Natural History, there was no mention of using it for a parkade.

The group is calling for the city and province to provide increased busing options for hospital staff to reduce the amount of parking needed.

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