[Dartmouth] Shannon Park Redevelopment | ? m | ? fl | Approved

[someone123]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

No history lesson intended, it just seemed strange to fit the reason for Halifax being founded in its location into a discussion as to why modern services should be located on the peninsula. Nobody was thinking of this (or strategic locations for land travel as railroads were still 100 years out) in the 1700s. Water routes were the main mode of travel and moving of goods.

The metro area is still more or less arranged around the harbour these days and the city is still near the geographic middle of the province. The amount of marine-based industry and employment in the city isn't trivial.

More widely I'm getting at the idea that geography dictates some of this and isn't really "fair". A lot of metro Halifax suburbs (and small towns around the province) are peripheral and not easy to get to from other areas. And in metro Halifax if you go between suburbs you'll often do it via the peninsula due to the bridges. It's true that people can get by within their neighbourhoods for most things.

For a lot of amenities it's even finer-grained and you want to be within a very short distance of existing amenities. Ideally a block away, not a 15 minute drive. These clusters are pretty important and dismantling them is usually a big mistake IMO.

[Saul Goode]

Originally Posted by someone123

It's similar for Halifax within NS. It was a planned town that they put in the middle for a reason.

The reason is dead simple: the Royal Navy took one look at the harbor and said "we must have this".

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by someone123

In Halifax it often seems to be the public sector driving suburban development whether it's a preference for highway development, the Bayer's Lake service places (Access NS and the health one IIRC), the RIM/IBM office park, or the federal government tearing down its historic office buildings downtown. I associate this suburban mentality with older and more rural politicians and I think we will see it lose favour in the coming years when the median NS voter becomes an urban Millennial (and many will be immigrants with whom historical entitlement politics likely won't register so much).

I can tell you with certainty that the move of Access NS to BLIP into the failed furniture store building was driven by what the bean counters and DTIR considered a great deal on the lease of the premises. In their rather elemental manner of client analysis they considered it a wash in terms of convenience and accessibility compared to where they previously were located even though at the time (and still today to a great extent) it required a vehicle to visit. You need to remember that the public service generally and PNS public servants in particular have very little understanding of the importance of client service and location of facilities as part of that.

What I do not know is if the move of federal govt facilities to Bayers Lake are ones that require client access like Access NS does. If you are audited by CRA, do you need to visit the new CRA bunker out there? I do not know. I suspect CBSA is not a very customer-centric organization and god forbid if anyone needs to visit their facility out there. The under-construction NS Health outpatient facility seemed a not-horrible idea at the time I suppose, at least based on acquisition costs as compared to the south end of the peninsula, but it has nothing nearby at the moment that would add to the experience of having to visit there - it is quite literally in the middle of a desert of crushed granite. It assumes that everyone will be driven there. That likely also assures that parking facilities will be inadequate.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

I can tell you with certainty that the move of Access NS to BLIP into the failed furniture store building was driven by what the bean counters and DTIR considered a great deal on the lease of the premises. In their rather elemental manner of client analysis they considered it a wash in terms of convenience and accessibility compared to where they previously were located even though at the time (and still today to a great extent) it required a vehicle to visit. You need to remember that the public service generally and PNS public servants in particular have very little understanding of the importance of client service and location of facilities as part of that.

What I do not know is if the move of federal govt facilities to Bayers Lake are ones that require client access like Access NS does. If you are audited by CRA, do you need to visit the new CRA bunker out there? I do not know. I suspect CBSA is not a very customer-centric organization and god forbid if anyone needs to visit their facility out there. The under-construction NS Health outpatient facility seemed a not-horrible idea at the time I suppose, at least based on acquisition costs as compared to the south end of the peninsula, but it has nothing nearby at the moment that would add to the experience of having to visit there - it is quite literally in the middle of a desert of crushed granite. It assumes that everyone will be driven there. That likely also assures that parking facilities will be inadequate.

It seems that much of the services offered at Access NS revolve around the Registry of Motor Vehicles... so needing a vehicle to get there is probably less of an issue than we are making it out to be - much of it is literally there to serve people with vehicles. Additionally, much of their services have online components, which I've been using for years. The only time I've had to go there in recent years was to get my driver's licence renewed (once every 5 years, because a photo is required). Otherwise, why travel there and wait in a lineup when you can just have the required documents show up in your mailbox within a few days to a week?

In regards to the outpatient facility, I think the idea of placing it there was to serve people who live in the area, or just outside the city, who would mostly use vehicles to get around, and perhaps not have to get caught up in the downtown traffic/parking nightmare to receive medical services (though I type this without knowing exactly what services/functions will be located there). Again, serving the people who already use vehicles.

[Dmajackson]

Canada Lands Company is saying construction will start the end of 2025 for this development.

In the meantime they have funding to build modular housing on site to help ease the housing issue.