Over 100 years ago, more than 200 acres were gifted to the City of Halifax as a park/green space. It has been and it is constantly being infilled. The latest is a proposal for a parkade several storeys tall to be built by the Museum of Science to replace the hospital parkade on Robie Street. Never mind that there are already two parking lots at the foot of Citadel Hill. And we recently lost the public Wanderers Grounds to a private soccer team.
By the way, why does the Halifax Infirmary not build upward rather than outward, claiming more of our valuable land?
As our city is being massively infilled, we need more green space, not less.
Now, to top it off, the Centre Plan will allow for 20-storey (or more) buildings to be built from Quinpool Road to Cunard Street, along Robie Street, facing the Common and replacing existing older historic homes.
"So what?" you might say. Here’s what: I enjoy living near and walking and biking on the Commons in my travels at least once every day. I've been observing the shadow caused by the Welsford apartments (20-plus storeys) on Robie. There is a huge shadow in the late afternoon that falls all the way to the fountain on the North Common. So now we “common” people who enjoy open sky and beautiful sunsets will lose something else that is precious to us. If you don’t live in the heart of downtown Halifax, this may seem insignificant. But to us who do, we feel the big squeeze in all directions.
Caroline L. Anderson, Halifax
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