Bedford West Developments & Discussion Thread

[someone123]

Originally Posted by gm_scott

It's not stunning, but design is subjective. At least its not brick and siding. A right step for the suburbs of Halifax

It is hard to tell from the rendering, but it looks like it could be an improvement in the design. I think those sorts of improvements however are less important than having transit service and mixed uses, and most of Halifax's suburban areas fail miserably on those two fronts.

[Aya_Akai]

Originally Posted by kph06

Boris Holdings now features the Domvista, which for the suburbs, I think is quite a nice design.

I must admit I think that's one of the stupidest names I've ever heard.

[Keith P.]

I took a cruise through this development recently. My sense was that it could have been pretty good, but was ruined by greed. The houses are simply too close to each other, like most new subdivisions these days. Some of the areas here are just awful.

The most egregious one is the street with the attached multi-units. It is overrun with cars because of inadequate parking, there are the requisite basketbal nets in the fronts of the driveways, looks like a hellhole. The street with the semi-detached units with the single-floor look (they actually aren't, I don't believe) is a bit better and they at least gave some thought to common-area parking. The single-family home street is like most new ones, with lots of similar-looking homes on top of each other. Although they have allowed some variation in color and minor variations in design, if they tried to pay homage to the arts and crafts movement by making the verandah posts taper in at the top they even missed that. It appears that some of the early builds had a fairly modest post design with a bit of taper. Apparently someone deemed that too subtle so most of the later units have this ridiculously ugly wide base to the posts with a sharp taper to the top. They look like oversized contractor's pencils.

If only developers would stop trying to cram every possible unit onto the minimum amount of land these sort of developments would be much improved.

[fenwick16]

Smaller lots will take some time to get accustomed but if the municipality is to grow then it will be necessary in order to reduce urban sprawl. Also, more people will be able to afford a small home on a small lot. I am happy with my 36 foot "wide lot" in the GTA.

[Dmajackson]

The "plan" for the subdivision has been updated slightly to reflect the recent set of amendments;

Area Map - The Parks of West Bedford

If anybody has a chance I am wondering about updates on three things in this area;

- The new commercial/industrial building going up at Angus Morton @ Innovation
- The multi-unit sites on Gary Martin. There were cleared in August ...
- The extension of Gary Martin and Hazleton Hill.

[Halifax Hillbilly]

A big failure of the Regional Plan is how it sets out all these suburban development nodes and then failed to require developers to put in place any kind of reasonable road patterns for transit or walkability. Plus there is no urban design thought at all and the public realm simply doesn't exist. The density of these develompents is just high enough to not feel suburban, but the design and execution is so poor they will be dull, isolated and car dependent. Basically just more of Clayton Park West.

[haligonia]

Originally Posted by Halifax Hillbilly

A big failure of the Regional Plan is how it sets out all these suburban development nodes and then failed to require developers to put in place any kind of reasonable road patterns for transit or walkability. Plus there is no urban design thought at all and the public realm simply doesn't exist. The density of these develompents is just high enough to not feel suburban, but the design and execution is so poor they will be dull, isolated and car dependent. Basically just more of Clayton Park West.

Exactly. I took a drive though this neighbourhood over the weekend. It was absolutely disgusting.

[gm_scott]

So disappointing. Even with some design changes (NOTE: not financial), these areas could be a lot more walkable and livable. With a metrolink type service these areas could be highly successful. Such a missed opportunity. I hope going forward HRM smartens up and doesn't allow this type of development, but I don't see this happening too soon.

[Antigonish]

Isn't the topography in this area pretty hilly? Might explain the windey road patterns, although it looks like your staple suburban street-maze layout. Shame because as mentioned above it doesn't look like a very walkable area.

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by Dmajackson

The "plan" for the subdivision has been updated slightly to reflect the recent set of amendments;

Area Map - The Parks of West Bedford

If anybody has a chance I am wondering about updates on three things in this area;

- The new commercial/industrial building going up at Angus Morton @ Innovation
- The multi-unit sites on Gary Martin. There were cleared in August ...
- The extension of Gary Martin and Hazleton Hill.

I can't provide any updates but I like the Bedford area developments and Halifax Mainland area suburban developments. I think that developers should be congratulated for finding feasible layouts to build on such rocky areas (but interesting from a scenic and topographical perspective). From a conservation perspective, maintaining the scenic, natural environment (in conjunction with building new homes) is a worthy consideration and I think it is being well done in the HRM. It is common in many similar terrain-challenged areas (I provided map links below). I think that Halifax should continue to build interesting neighbourhoods that follow the natural contours of the surrounding suburban land but developers should also provide pedestrian links through neighbourhoods to make it easier to get to transportation points.

Here is the Bing Maps Eye View for the Bedford location - http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=rfh...NS&form=LMLTCC

The Atlanta area is an interesting metropolis where suburban neighbourhoods are built to conform to the terrain instead of flattening it and building street grid networks - http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=atlanta...gl=ca&t=h&z=13. For people who have flown into Atlanta, it appears to be a city built into a vast forest. It provides interesting, scenic neighbourhoods.

The suburban areas in the San Francisco Bay area provide very interesting, scenic neighbourhoods - http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=san+fra...gl=ca&t=h&z=15

Areas outside of Vancouver proper, such as Coquitlam and North Vancouver - http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=Coquitl...gl=ca&t=h&z=13

[kph06]

Originally Posted by Dmajackson

The "plan" for the subdivision has been updated slightly to reflect the recent set of amendments;

Area Map - The Parks of West Bedford

If anybody has a chance I am wondering about updates on three things in this area;

- The new commercial/industrial building going up at Angus Morton @ Innovation
- The multi-unit sites on Gary Martin. There were cleared in August ...
- The extension of Gary Martin and Hazleton Hill.

-The new building at Angus Morton and Innovation is painted, windows are in and they must be preparing of occupancy.
-The multi sites are cleared and leveled.
-The two cul-de-sacs off Hazelton Hill are paved and are nearing completion.
-Innovation is connected and paved to Gary Martin, but not open.

This is a shot this afternoon of the school:

[robotropolis]

What would be some changes that would make the neighborhood more livable and walkable? I'm interested and curious, not skeptical.

I liked the neighborhood for the green space, I like the forest paths etc. But it is 3km from the first houses in Stonington to the future grocery store on Larry Uteck, which obviously isn't too walkable. Then again I'm 2km from a grocery store now on the peninsula *sigh*

[Dmajackson]

All photos taken by me

Bedford West High School:







Gary Martin Townhouses:



Hazleton Hill:





Innovation @ Angus Morton:

[Northend Guy]

Originally Posted by kph06

Boris Holdings now features the Domvista, which for the suburbs, I think is quite a nice design.


Source

I heard last week that this has screeched to a halt - the reason I heard is that the economics were not there - the design was a bit too pricey for what they expect to get in this location.

[kph06]

Originally Posted by Northend Guy

I heard last week that this has screeched to a halt - the reason I heard is that the economics were not there - the design was a bit too pricey for what they expect to be get in this location.

That's too bad, I thought we may have turned a corner on design in these areas. If I remember correctly, the same thing happened to the Clayton/Cresco 12ish story buildings on Larry Uteck. Although driving by the last few weeks equipment appears to be back on site there.

[Northend Guy]

Originally Posted by kph06

That's too bad, I thought we may have turned a corner on design in these areas. If I remember correctly, the same thing happened to the Clayton/Cresco 12ish story buildings on Larry Uteck. Although driving by the last few weeks equipment appears to be back on site there.

I believe the property will be/has been sold to a company called Ariana Properties. They are in the early stages of having the design work done now for a different proposal.

*I'm referring to the Cresco property you mentioned*

[kph06]

Driving through here today, it looks like site work has started up on the Domvista site. Hopefully the original design will be built as it was decent for a sub-urban building.

Site clearing has also started on one of the apartment building sites on Innovation Drive.

Lastly, IBM now has a sign on the RIM building visible from the 102 Outbound.

[kph06]

A crane is up for the Domvista today, I will have photos tomorrow.

[kph06]

Lots of action now on the larger multi unit and commercial sites, photos by me.

Domvista:




Innovation Drive:

[kph06]

The grey, Arnoldin/All tower crane from Russell lake was taken down today and stockpiled on the lot at Gary Martin and Innovation. With a base in place I imagine this will go up soon. I haven't seen renderings for this lot, I would guess it will be roughly 6 floors with a masonry exterior finish to follow suit with most other buildings in Clayton subdivisions.