News Release

Halifax Regional Municipality Ready to Consider Development Proposals in Barrington Street Heritage Conservation District

(Thursday, Feb. 3, 2011) - Two longstanding development proposals for
Barrington Street will be considered through a development application
process that predates HRMByDesign provisions.

Halifax Regional Municipality has been successful in its request to
amend the Barrington Street Heritage Conservation District
Revitalization Plan and the Downtown Halifax Secondary Municipal
Planning Strategy (MPS).

The revisions serve to exempt two development agreement applications
from the heritage
conservation plan and bylaw for Barrington Street, and extend the
deadline for them to be considered under the approval process that was
in place at the time of their applications. The two development
agreement applications include the Roy Building site and the Discovery
Centre site.

Council approved the changes to allow the “grandfathering” of these
applications under the old process, but approval from the Province to
amend the plan and planning strategy was also required.

To learn more about the Discovery Centre proposal, please
visit the Planning Applications section of the HRM website at:
http://www.halifax.ca/planning/Case01231Details.html . To learn more
about the Roy Building proposal, please visit
http://www.halifax.ca/planning/Case01172Details.html .

The approved revisions redress an oversight in drafting the Barrington
Street conservation plan and bylaw, which had been intended to
“grandfather” pre-existing applications.

The way is now clear for the proposals to proceed through a process
that includes review by Council committees and the provision for
public hearings before Council determines whether these projects will or will not
proceed.

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Contact:
Kelly Denty
Supervisor, Planning Applications
490-6011

Shaune MacKinlay
HRM Communications
490-6531