Halifax council green lights three funding requests totalling $2.5 million

Halifax Regional Council approved three separate funding requests totalling $2.5 million at their final meeting of the year on Tuesday.

Council pushed through the final piece of a proposed $13-million arts centre in downtown Halifax, as they voted in favour of contributing $1 million to the project.

The federal government and the province of Nova Scotia announced earlier this week that they’d contribute more than $10 million towards the Link Performing Arts Centre, contingent on the $1-million contribution from the Halifax Regional Municipality.

Council voted 14 to two in favour of the project with Bill Karsten, councillor for Dartmouth South-Eastern Passage, and Lorelei Nicoll, councillor for Cole Harbour-Westphal.

The Link would be an arts and culture hub at the former World Trade and Convention Centre across from Halifax City Hall and the Grand Parade.

The proposal includes a 1,800-person performance hall, a media production studio, two dance studios, a 160-seat cinema, a creative entrepreneurs centre, a storefront box office and a cafe on Argyle Street.

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Fourteen councillors voted in favour of considering a one-time contribution of $1 million to the YMCA of Greater Halifax and Dartmouth during the 2019-2020 budget deliberations in the new year.

The funds will go towards the purchase of the replacement YMCA facility located at the intersection of South Park and Sackville Street.

Two councillors, Richard Zurawski of Timberlea-Beechville-Clayton Park-Wedgewood and Steve Adams of Spryfield-Samnro Loop-Prospect Road, chose not to vote on the motion.

The motion passed with an amendment from Lindell Smith, councillor for Halifax Peninsula North, that authorized municipal staff to negotiate collaborations on programming and access to meeting spaces.

Staff have also been directed to clarify what child-care services will be offered by the YMCA at the new location.

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Council decided against a recommendation to not contribute $500,000 towards the Hospice Society of Greater Halifax.

Instead, by a vote of 12 to five, council overturned the recommendation from the municipality’s audit and finance committee, meaning that the municipality will put $500,000 towards the project.

The $500,0000 was only a portion of the original $1-million request for the project submitted by the society, which is constructing a building at 618 Francklyn St. in Halifax, that will house accommodations for the terminally ill.

The 10-bed facility is estimated to cost approximately $6 million, and updated estimates suggest that $3.4 million has been spent on construction so far.

The building is scheduled to be completed by March 2019.

— With files from The Canadian Press