Halifax council will discuss on Tuesday whether to scrap the development agreement signed nine years ago with Navid Saberi for the former TexPark site.
As debated in these pages before, Saberi's United Gulf has been sitting on this site since he paid $5 million for it in 2004, beating out four other developers. Despite winning approval for the original "Twister Sisters" twin tower development that topped out at 27 stories, development never proceeded. He later returned with a proposal for the 48-storey Skye towers, which was rejected by regional council.
Critics have long demanded that the city exercise its rights to rescind the agreement though I believe there was also fear that the language of the deal was so porous that an effort to scrap it might face a legal challenge.
A staff report says it's not acceptable to give non-conforming developments indefinite approval rights. Under current planning rules, only about 20 floors would be allowed.
Here's the report.
I think there are few who would argue that United Gulf has not had more than enough time do something positive with this gaping wound in the heart of the city.