Just read it - some article.
This guy doesn't like tall buildings and clearly he's focused on "the needs of the few or the one ... outweighing the needs of the many" (probably a Spock / Trekkie fan).
Look, I'm ok to go along with what he says just as long as he pays my growing property tax bills and gives my mom & dad a no maintenance home near the lake (where they want to be). Oh, and I hope he gets volume discounts on fire extinguishers so when my car gets torched like others on Prince Albert road, that he'll courteously come by and extinguish it for me.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-s...dartmouth.html
But really, I get it and I understand where he's coming from, he lives in the neighbourhood, loves it and wants to make sure that it is preserved for him and his neighbours to enjoy ... but no one else. In fact his policy is so effective, that even existing residents needing and preferring different mid-rise housing simply leave the neighbourhood because there aren't any options. But that's ok, we'll just enjoy lower property values and more single family homes being converted to modest rentals (read low-end), to help slum up the area some more. He and short sighted people like him are the real problem, hiding behind the "soft speak" suggesting "we don't hate development ... really", all the while driving their own selfish agendas. Wake up - there isn't an endless supply of money out there and HRM needs to position for future financial pressures .... and amongst other things, a collapsing US economy (yeah it'll affect us too ...). Last numbers I saw the mainland area population had shrunk around 30% in the last 4-5 years as opposed to growing by similar amounts (at least that's what city planners had hoped to have in meeting sustainability targets). A big win for the Negative Mainland Population Growth Initiative - go team !!
The writer talks about the property rights of neighbours and their rights to impose opinion on adjacent properties - they knew the existing site was zoned C2 and that there were no height restrictions re same (or they should have or their lawyer ought to have told them ...). What he fails to recognize are the property rights of the development owner. I think it's high time a group organize to deal with opposing say .... the illegal repainting of his deck or the upgrades in his home. Silly - Right ? Not much sillier than his expectation of interfering with someone else's property rights.
Initiatives by groups like these just need to be shut down. Misleading information, negative propaganda, selfish unsustainable agendas, ignorance of the facts, etc ... I guess that's why we elect municipal government officials, to help make all the right decisions so these poor people don't have to - Yeah Right !!
This public process is so flawed that it's destroying the fabric of city cores. Come on councillors, show some leadership - listen to your planners and professionals.
Make Noise !!!
peace ...