Halifax regional council is looking at ways to change rules around demolition permits and empty lots to help keep more housing in the city.
On Tuesday, councillors voted in favour of having staff study the potential impacts of disallowing demolition until a building permit is issued and establishing an empty lot tax within the service boundary.
Coun. Waye Mason, who made that motion, noted that the city’s centre plan calls for density in areas where there is already transit service in place. But density can be hard to achieve when buildings are being removed and not replaced.
“We’ve seen, especially on Coburg and Robie, a lot of buildings being torn down, but nothing being built,” he said in an interview.
Mason said he wants to see if the city can adopt a rule where developers can’t get a demolition permit until they get a building permit, to demonstrate they have a plan to build replacement homes before tearing them down.
The councillor also said an empty lot tax would help disincentivize keeping lots empty in the meantime. He said developers sometimes tear down buildings while going through approval processes because it’s cheaper to pay property taxes on an empty lot.
“So you make it more expensive to have an empty lot, and that might incentivize them to keep the housing that’s already there until they’re ready to build more housing,” Mason said.
“The whole objective is not to stop the new buildings from being built, but to maintain housing as long as possible and not have empty lots where we used to have houses.”
Mason noted that other jurisdictions in Canada and the U.S. have implemented an empty lot tax and said this was something the municipality should ask the province about.
The new rules wouldn’t apply to new subdivisions or greenfield development, he added.
During Tuesday’s council meeting, Coun. Paul Russell said he had some concerns with the demolition permit piece, saying it could allow buildings to fall into disrepair.
“If we disallow the demolition until there’s a building permit, effectively, then we’re going to end up with a lot of sites like the Bloomfield school, where we get a building that is basically falling down, and they don’t have a building permit so they aren’t going to try for a demolition permit, they’re just going to let it fall down,” he said.
“I see that just incentivizing letting buildings fall down.”
He asked that Mason’s motion be split in two because he couldn’t support that part of the motion.
Councillors ended up voting 12-3 in favour of having city staff examine the potential impacts of disallowing demolition under normal circumstances until a building permit has been issued, with councillors Russell, Pam Lovelace and David Hendsbee voting against.
The motion to study an empty lot tax passed 14-1, with Coun. Tim Outhit voting against.
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