Halifax residents’ group concerned about construction impacts of new building

Major construction hasn’t yet begun on a nine-storey mixed-used building in Halifax, but neighbours say they’re already worried about the potential impacts the construction will have.

“Our main concerns are the dust, the noise, the parking, the potential for blasting,” Christopher Breckenridge, a member of Brenton Street and Schmidtville Residents Livability Group, said on Friday.

The building, called the Margaretta, will be erected at the corner of Clayton and Birmingham Streets.

Breckenridge said that the residents’ group, which is holding a meeting about the issue on on April 5, bases their concerns over what they experienced when the Mary Ann, another newly-constructed building across the street, was built.

“If you look at other places, businesses can go out of business because of lack of parking, and customers not wanting to come down,” he said, adding that he feels there needs to be more communication between locals, the government, and the developer.

That was one of the issues business owners along Argyle Street brought up during the construction of the nearby Nova Centre.

Before receiving a permit, each development has to submit a construction mitigation plan that addresses any potential issues for its neighbours.

“We listened to property owners and residents who said that this construction was having an impact on their property, and that’s why we introduced those new guidelines last year so any new development going forward, including this one, will have to meet those new requirements to ensure that we’re minimizing issues such as dust, noise and other impacts on neighbouring properties during construction,” Tiffany Chase, a spokesperson for the Halifax Regional Municipality, said.