Board Activity Update
A lot has happened since our last update. We want to give you a few highlights to give you a sense of what the board members have been doing in the last number of months and in particular since the May 25th public engagement session at the Forum.
Our website is now live – shapemumfordgrowth.ca - where anyone can find information on us and the proposed development at the West End Mall Future Growth Node. Anyone can go online and join as well. Share this with your friends.
Shape Mumford Growth is a fully registered society and listed on the NS Registry of Joint Stocks as Shape Mumford Growth. This gives us further legitimacy with the community and also provides reassurance that we are following an established process with a board of directors, a memorandum of association and bylaws that govern our activities. It was also essential in getting HRM to recognize us as an official stakeholder group.
There have been two meetings of note since May 25th:
June 2 meeting with Eric Lucic, Director of Strategic Projects and Planning Development to get a better sense of the development of the Master Neighbourhood Plan and timing around its approval. As well, we were interested to hear what was happening with the proposed development from Cushman Wakefield.
Coming out of the session on May 25th HRM planning staff are drafting a “What We Heard Report“ for presentation to council summarizing the May 25th feedback and the results of the online survey. Making recommendations to council ahead of formulating the Master Neighbourhood Plan that will be developed and presented to Council for final approval.
Shape Mumford Growth and other stakeholders will be given a chance to review the MNP and make recommendations before the final MNP is presented to Council with a required Public Hearing.
Time line for all of this is a bit up in the air but Eric did say that the parallel process of assessing the Cushman Wakefield development proposal continues and he expects the two approvals – Master Neighbourhood Plan and Development Agreement to be close together.
Likely not before late fall and into 2024. One factor that influences the timing is the 2024 October civic election. Council will likely want to have this whole project dealt with by June 2024 and if not it might be finalized after that – even into 2025
June 27: National Urban Planners Conference took place in Halifax. Some attendees from across the country chose a full-day workshop examining the West End Future Growth Node to make recommendations on what could be developed there. They toured the site in the morning and then had a brief presentation from Shape Mumford Growth to provide some context for theIr deliberations. The points we made included:
Emphasizing the nature of the surrounding community and need to integrate any development with the established neighbourhoods. That SMG is pro development, seeking a liveable, people-centered community with adequate services.
Exposed that ours is peninsula community and that this FGN is bordered by heavily travelled arteries bringing people on, off and through this area daily;
That we believe a mixture of housing is needed – not just high rises; townhouses, low-rise, mid-rise and tall building; two and three-bedroom units and affordable housing;
A balanced approach to density is essential – both in terms of numbers and consideration for movement of people on and off the peninsula.
Understand the imperative to build more housing but not at the expense of good planning – HRM has approved plans with visions for Future Growth Nodes -- they simply have to follow their own rules. We believe there is a great opportunity to make the development of this FGN a remarkable example to the world.
Took the opportunity when asked about Cushman Wakefield proposal to say that it lacked imagination, was void of any green space, public facilities, interconnectivity with neighbourhoods and relied on the predominant 30-storey buildings to put more than 12,000 people in a space that would result in the highest density of any development in the country and even North America.
The workshop group went back to their conference and came up with three possible options at the end of the day- any of which provide imaginative approaches to what could be developed at the West End Mall FGN. We hope to get permission from the Canadian Planners Institute to share these options publicly on our website, etc.
Other: Meeting with decision makers: We are setting up meetings with a number of HRM departments – transit, parks & recreation, Library, Community Safety, etc. to ensure they hear from us. As well, we will meet with HRM councilors individually to give them our message. Also, plan to meet with new Executive Director Planning & Development, Jacqueline Hamilton who arrives mid-August.
Put a note on your calendar-- General membership meeting planned for September 14, at 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm – location to be determined – invitations will go out in late August.
Volunteer with Shape Mumford Growth! We need help with Social Media, website, membership, email inquiries, best practices research, etc. If you are prepared to do hands on work, please contact us at shapemumfordgrowth@gmail.com.
Thanks so much for your continued interest.