HALIFAX — Toronto’s former chief city planner says preserving Halifax’s heritage will be one of the keys to success as the municipality implements the long-awaited Centre Plan.

Jennifer Keesmaat has completed a review of Package A of the Centre Plan – the first half of the document that will guide the development growth of Halifax for the next decade and beyond.

Keesmaat’s review, commissioned by the Urban Development Institute of Nova Scotia, in partnership with Waterfront Development, the Downtown Halifax Business Commission, and the Halifax Chamber of Commerce, makes 28 recommendations aimed at improving the plan. She was known when she worked for Toronto for her progressive visions and channeling the Jane Jacobs doctrine of city building.

Her report comes just as public consultation wraps on the first half of the plan, and Keesmaat is presenting her findings to the public on Wednesday night.

Keesmaat said her report is a “friendly review,” meaning she met with the HRM planners who created the Centre Plan, but she also interviewed dozens of other planners, developers and architects in the municipality.

What she found, broadly, is that the proposed plan expects the private sector, developers, to deliver the added density in peninsular Halifax and downtown and north Dartmouth, but doesn’t say how the municipality will support it.

“It’s not just enough to add density. It’s not just enough to add residential,” Keesmaat said in an interview.

“You need to actually look at those neighbourhoods and assess whether they have the amenities for growth.”

Keesmaat said that means making sure a community’s amenities – municipal recreation centres, parks, and transit – can handle an influx of people, and investing in building them if they can’t.

There’s also no rationale for the heights and densities proposed in the plan, which are prescribed for each individual property.

“It felt to me like the height framework was being applied in very broad strokes, and there were some areas where I actually thought it was proposing too much density and other areas where it was pretty clear it wasn’t proposing enough,” she said.

Again, the problem is the amenities in an area may not be able to support the density, or vice versa; the plan may not create enough density to bring in amenities like grocery stores.

“This is why the height rationale really matters, and needs to be linked back to that vision of creating complete communities,” she said. “You’ve got to get the density right. You want to protect the character. You want to ensure you have vibrant streets, but you also don’t want to underachieve in areas where you probably should be adding more density to really deliver on creating a walkable centre.”

Protecting the character of Halifax, in general, will be paramount to the plan’s success, she said.

“Halifax is an incredibly special place for a whole variety of reasons from a heritage perspective,” Keesmaat said. “And a lot of that heritage is embodied in the built form, and protecting that built form is really critical to not losing an important part of, I would argue, not only the Halifax story, but also our national story.”

Keesmaat said the municipality needs to act quickly to protect the eight heritage conservation districts outlined in the plan, including the Hydrostone area and the Historic Properties district.

“I think that now is the moment, before real, significant transformation takes place, now is the moment to ensure that those heritage conservation districts are in place,” she said.

Making a strong commitment to protecting heritage will build good will between the public and the municipality as well, Keesmaat said.

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“It’s part of the social contract, that you make it very clear with the public that you’re not going to destroy that which they value, but rather you’re going to enhance what is valued as the city evolves and changes,” she said.

Keesmaat said she was meeting with Halifax regional council and Mayor Mike Savage on Wednesday to go over her report, and municipal planning staff will be reviewing it too.

“Staff is still in the process of reviewing this feedback, as well as all other feedback collected at our recent public engagement sessions and the Centre Plan Storefront,” HRM spokesperson Nick Ritcey said in an email.

“We’ve received a lot of great public comment on the draft, including this review and we think it will help strengthen the plan. Our next steps are to review all comments with the Community Design Advisory Committee before framing the go-forward process for the next version of the plan.”

It’s unsure exactly how the Centre Plan process will roll out from here. Planning staff may complete and release the proposed second half of the plan, or refine the first half and get it passed through council.

It’s expected the plan as a whole will be passed by the end of the year, but that process has been delayed before.

Keesmaat said it’s important the municipality gets the plan right, and it needs more people working to get it out.

“I think it’s very clear that there needs to be more resources dedicated to getting the plan done. There needs to be more resources dedicated to heritage preservation, and I think that’s something council should wrestle with if they’re serious about this,” Keesmaat said.

“This is really the most important document the city’s going to create. Make sure it’s well-resourced. Don’t cheap out on it.”

When and where:

Keesmaat will present her analysis of the Centre Plan at Dalhousie University’s Ondaatje Hall at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 9.

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