The Official Annapolis Valley & West Hants Projects Thread

[Dmajackson]

I figure a big project like this is a great way to start a project thread for the Annapolis Valley. For the purposes of this thread anything in West Hants, Kings County, Annapolis County, and Digby County should be discussed. The area has a population of 113'800 people as of 2016.

This project is 13km SW of Windsor in a small area called Benjamin Mills off of Highway 14 (near Ski Martock).

Proposed wind farm could become Nova Scotia's largest

A proposed wind farm in Hants County, N.S., stands to become the largest wind energy generator in the province and give a boost toward the provincial government's renewable energy targets.

Natural Forces, a Halifax-born power company, submitted its plans for the Benjamins Mills wind project to Nova Scotia's Department of Environment this week. The company is seeking approval to build up to 28 turbines about 13 kilometres southwest of the town of Windsor.

The wind farm could generate up to 150 megawatts, or, by the company's estimate, enough power for as many as 50,000 homes.

Nova Scotia is already dotted with hundreds of wind turbines, but few existing farms are on the same scale as the one Natural Forces wants to build.

... Read more at CBC.ca

[Dmajackson]

Stumbled across Biovectra today. They are expanding their Windsor and Charlottetown facilities.

Over the past several years, BIOVECTRA has expanded its business to develop and produce commercial scale biotherapeutics, at its accredited facility in Windsor, Nova Scotia. It is one of five BIOVECTRA sites, located in Atlantic Canada. As part of this most recent investment, the Windsor site will also see an expansion to support the development and production of plasmid DNA, the key ingredient to manufacture mRNA therapeutics and vaccines. The PEI bio-manufacturing facility will include fill finish capabilities

I had no idea little ol' Windsor had a pharmaceutical company let alone is entering the world of mRNA vaccines.

[JonHiseler]

2021 Census data is out, here are some population figures for the region

Annapolis Valley: 129,306 (+4.5% from 2016)

Annapolis County: 21,252 (+3.2% from 2016)
Digby County: 17,062 (-1.5% from 2016)
Kings County: 62,914 (+3.8% from 2016)
West Hants: 19,509 (+2.6% from 2016)

Annapolis Royal: 530 (+7.9% from 2016)
Aylesford: 834 (+0.1% from 2016)
Berwick: 2455 (-2.2% from 2016)
Bridgetown: 970 (+2.2% from 2016)
Cambridge: 703 (-18.9% from 2016)
Canning: 716 (-2.1% from 2016)
Centreville: 1159 (+2,7% from 2016)
Coldbrook: 1206 (-4.0% from 2016)
Cornwallis Park: 488 (+1.9% from 2016)
Digby: 2001 (-2.9% from 2016)
Falmouth: 1553 (+13.5% from 2016)
Granville Ferry: 152 (+38.2% from 2016)
Hants Border 408 (+3.8% from 2016)
Hantsport: 1542 (-1.2% from 2016)
Kentville: 6630 (+5.7% from 2016)
Kingston-Greenwood: 7118 (+3.5% from 2016)
Lawrencetown: 636 (+23.3% from 2016)
Middleton: 1873 (+2.2% from 2016)
Port Williams: 1110 (-6.4% from 2016)
Waterville: 703 (-5.9% from 2016)
Windsor: 5514 (+5.1% from 2016)
Wolfville: 5057 (+20.5% from 2016)

[Mapleton_Roadie]

Originally Posted by Dmajackson

Stumbled across Biovectra today. They are expanding their Windsor and Charlottetown facilities.



I had no idea little ol' Windsor had a pharmaceutical company let alone is entering the world of mRNA vaccines.

Biovectra's location was first used by Sepracor which produced the active ingredient for Dristan.
More on the Windsor science front:
Dr. Abdullah Kirumira amd Hermes Chan, who collaborated at Acadia University and then set up shop in Windsor and Hantsport, developed the World's first rapid HIV test kit. Kirumira, who had fled his homeland of Uganda, wanted to develop a way for easy and rapid diagnosis of sexually transmitted diseases in third world countries. He partnered with Hermes Chan while at Acadia and developed such a kit.
Likely not too different from the CoVid rapid test kits?

[someone123]

Whoa, +20% for Wolfville, and it is almost as big as Kentville now. I always assumed the Kentville CA included Wolfville but it only grew by a few hundred people, which would imply big losses outside of the towns that probably don't make sense. Another question is if the Wolfville town boundaries changed.

[JonHiseler]

Originally Posted by someone123

Whoa, +20% for Wolfville, and it is almost as big as Kentville now. I always assumed the Kentville CA included Wolfville but it only grew by a few hundred people, which would imply big losses outside of the towns that probably don't make sense. Another question is if the Wolfville town boundaries changed.

Looks like the Kentville CA goes all the way north to Scot's Bay, as far west as Billtown and the eastern portion of Coldbrook, as far south as the county line with Lunenburg County, and as far east as New Minas and Port Williams.

Wolfville's town boundaries are Main St from Elderkin Drive to just past the Woodman's Grove subdivision. The Wolfville population centre has the same boundaries.

[josh_cat_eyes]

Annapolis Valley and the south shore already has its own thread, so perhaps the other one should be renamed south shore NS.

[JonHiseler]

CBC article about Wolfville's population boom and future plans:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-...land-1.6391404

[OldDartmouthMark]

I previously posted this in the Halifax section, but it was suggested to me that this would be a good place to put it up. I wasn't aware of this thread previously, so here is a copy/paste of the post:

Article: Kentville's landmark Main Street Station sold

Many of us 'older folk' will remember this as the Cornwallis Inn, but there was a name change because... well... you know.

I've always known it as a beautiful landmark in Kentville and am kind of nervous that it will have bad things done to it in the name of "development". Normally I would think of this as unthinkable... like who would be dumb and heartless enough to remove such an attractive, historic building that welcomes all visitors to Kentville, but I've learned not to think that anymore given what I've seen in Halifax, plus how much of the historic railway stuff (like the roundhouse) has already been removed in Kentville.

No information was given as to the actual plans for the building, but from the article:

CBC News emailed and called the new owners, Joseph Arab of Rosedale Developments in Halifax, but no one was made available for an interview.

Beverly Gentleman, director of planning for the Town of Kentville, said the building is privately owned so the owners don't need permission to sell, redevelop or even demolish it.

"The property does not have a heritage designation. We do not have a heritage bylaw," she said of the Town of Kentville.

"It's a C-1 zone, which allows for commercial on the ground floor and multi-residential, if wanted, above the second floor."

Gentleman said the new owners bought two properties: Main Street Station and an adjacent property. Either site could be developed.

Not trying to be alarmist, just a realist. I sincerely hope that whatever development happens there will respect this historic building.



1932:

The landmark red brick building was built by Dominion Atlantic Railway in 1929 as a year-round hotel. It was known as the Cornwallis Inn until a recent name change to Main Street Station.

[Mapleton_Roadie]

There appears to be significant residential unit growth coming to Windsor. Driving by on Hwy 101 near exit 5A ( Wentworth Rd), there is a lot of heavy equipment moving earth behind the Super 8 and also down by the Hants Community Hospital.
In June or was it July, a presenter had also floated a multi building mixed res/comm development on the grounds of the now long gone Windsor Regional High School.

[Mapleton_Roadie]

Windsor and area's population is potentially set to to explode....theoretically speaking....lol!

There are currently 12 4-8 storey buildings planned (11 approved so far). If I knew how to post an image on here I would put up the list that was screenshotted from facebook.

This is on top of a growing subdivision in the Falmouth area.

a new coffee roaster is also setting up shop in Falmouth in the old taxi garage (or old Lada dealership) which is on Hwy 1 just past Pothier Motors.

A local group is also trying to close out their fundraising for a much needed barrier free playground and dog park (Falmouth Family Park). This will be a jewel for the area.

[MonctonRad]

And this proposal for the old textile mill site next to the 101 sounds absolutely incredible (in every sense of the word).

https://www.westhants.ca/planning-ad...-pdf/file.html

Information Report: File # 23-02 WMPS and WLUB Amendments: 368 Nesbitt Street, PID 45056447 (Sara Poirier)

Sara presented an information report on this file to gather input from the Committee prior to hosting a Public Information Meeting as this is a one-of-a-kind proposal for Windsor. This application was received on April 13, 2023, from Jenifer Tsang of Sunrose Land Use Consulting on behalf of 3321153 NOVA SCOTIA LIMITED / United Gulf Developments Ltd.

It is a request to amend the Windsor Municipal Planning Strategy and Windsor Land Use By-law to permit a mixed-use, multi-unit development and hockey themed tourist destination on the site of the former Textile Mill.

The proposal includes a 19-storey mixed-used building with a hockey museum, office space and up to 164 residential units, a restaurant in the shape of a hockey puck, a large, backlit hockey stick visible from the highway, and outdoor recreation space with artificial ice surfaces.

The applicants are requesting a new designation and zone be created to
allow their development as-of-right. Council has provided intention in the current planning document to allow redevelopment the lot, but a development of this size and scale were not considered at the time.

Sara provided a detailed description of their proposal and requested direction on how the Committee would like staff to proceed. Three options were presented: as-of-right by creating the new zone and designation, considering it through site plan approval, or a considering it through development agreement.

The Committee was not in favor of allowing such a broad development as-of-right. They felt they could lose control of the development. Site plan approval would require the applicant to stick to the plan provided, but the process does not allow for public engagement prior to approval. The Committee considered public engagement for a project like this to be essential.

Development agreements are the most restrictive and familiar to the Committee, but also have the longest process of 6-8 months. The Committee
raised concerns about the proposed height of the development, the residential density, and the sightline of the river from Fort Edward. A Public Information Meeting will be scheduled by staff.

Chair Nicholls requested a standalone meeting for this item due to the scale of the proposal.

Hard to know what to think of this without seeing renders, but there is a real danger of terminal tackiness if not handled and designed appropriately. This proposal would be a game changer for the town of Windsor, but they had better tread very carefully during the approval process and not lose control.

[adamuptownsj]

Yeah there's about a 0% chance of this happening. I hope Windsor doesn't get monorailed.

[Mapleton_Roadie]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

And this proposal for the old textile mill site next to the 101 sounds absolutely incredible (in every sense of the word).

https://www.westhants.ca/planning-ad...-pdf/file.html



Hard to know what to think of this without seeing renders, but there is a real danger of terminal tackiness if not handled and designed appropriately. This proposal would be a game changer for the town of Windsor, but they had better tread very carefully during the approval process and not lose control.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/...18016026519442

[q12]

^

[Mapleton_Roadie]

Whether it's salt water or fresh water (as it is now), having a full body of water adjacent to downtown Windsor definitely returns an appealing nature to the area.

[Mapleton_Roadie]

A developer is looking to build a 6 storey MU building with ground floor commercial on the site of the Old Black Bear Tavern.

A local group trying to revitalize the Fort Edward Site is looking to have development height limited to 3 or 4 storeys so sight lines aren't affected from Fort.

[Dmajackson]

^Staff Presentation for 8 Upper Water Street, Windsor (Black Bear Tavern). There is a rendering included.

Cole Drive, Windsor Development Agreement also caught my eye. It appears to be the initial phase of something bigger. It's 42 units over GF commercial in between Superstore and hotels.

The Crossing Building 'D' is approved for 8-floors / 90-units with GF commercial possible. There are three other multi-units approved for the same subdivision.

35 Williams Street, Hantsport is approved. Michael Lawen is behind this 5-floor / 40-unit project.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by Dmajackson

^Staff Presentation for 8 Upper Water Street, Windsor (Black Bear Tavern). There is a rendering included.

It seems a little disappointing to have that on the main drag of Windsor. It looks like what we would call a "Clayton Park Special" in Halifax, i.e. the type of cheap multi-unit that was built in the 1990s and have not stood up well to the test of time.

Upper Water Street has some nice old buildings, and it would be nice to see something a little more attractive built here. Just my opinion, of course.

[Mapleton_Roadie]

The Upper Water St and King corner looks alright to me. Maybe the planning board will push back with some suggestions to tweak the design to be more indicative of the old Main St architecture that Windsor sports?

The buildings proposed for the old Baptist Church site have renderings somewhere too. The hurdle faced with that development in particular is ensuring the sewer and storm discharges from that doesn't overwhelm the current shared storm and sewer system in that part of town....it gets overburdened in a gentle rain as it is. Municipal officials are woefully realising they need to update their infrastructure to handle the current load plus if they want to continue developing the area. The cost of progress??

Has there been any movement on the development plans for the old high school property?