Halifax Regional Municipality looks at new master plan for the Common

The Halifax Regional Municipality is looking at redeveloping the parks, open spaces and recreational facilities — including the existing outdoor pool and playground — in the Halifax Common, according to documents posted on the province’s tender website.

According to the documents, the HRM is looking for an experienced developer to create a “guiding document” that will determine the future of the Common’s parks and open spaces.

According to Richard Harvey, the municipality’s manager of policy and planning the existing master plan was established 23 years ago in 1994.

“A considerable number of things have changed since that time, resulting in the need for a new plan that considers overall open space planning for the entire Halifax Common and recreational and cultural lands planning for HRM’s parkland,” said Harvey.

Aquatic facility an ‘immediate’ priority

The document details the “immediate priority” of redeveloping the 60-year-old outdoor swimming and wading pool as well as the nearby recreational building known as the Pavillion.

“(The facilities) are in very poor condition and are at their end of life,” the document reads.

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The costs for the new pool and its construction are expected to be included in the municipality’s 2018/2019 fiscal budget.

Construction of the replacement aquatic facilities are scheduled to begin in 2019.

The municipality expects the creation of the master plan to take approximately eight months, though the plan for the outdoor pool replacement will need to arrive before then.

The request of a master plan for the Common is budgeted for no more than $220,000.

History of the Halifax Common

The city is requesting that the plan balance the Common’s historic character and its use as a public space in the city’s urban core.

The Halifax common was created in the 1763 as land intended for the “use of the inhabitants of the Town of Halifax forever.”

It was originally surveyed at 235 acres, though it has since been restricted and defined by the development of city streets.