Frequently Asked Questions

Building and Site Design

  • Each tower will be 33 storeys tall.

  • Yes. The towers portions will only feature residential dwellings. However, there will be some retail units in the ground floor of the podium.

  • The majority of the on-site parking will be located underground.

  • The primary access point for the site will be off of Best Street and Mott Street in the south of the property.

  • Since the site is completely separated from Wyse Road by other properties, the main entrance cannot be located in the north of the site. Mott Street and Best Street are the only two street accesses that the site has and consequently, are the only place that the main road access to the site can be located.

  • Architecture - Sweeny&Co Architects

    Landscape Architecture & Planning - Fathom Studio

    Civil Engineering - DesignPoint Engineering and Surveying

    Developer - Manga Hotels

  • The subject property has been identified as an ideal site for high-rise, dense development by HRM’s recent planning documents. The site was granted both the highest maximum height limit (90m) and the highest maximum floor-area ratio (8) during the previous regional plan review which together enable the most significant scale of development as-of-right under the applicable planning documents.

    It is also located near a significant transit terminal, a grocery store, multiple parks, multiple shops/restaurants, as well as two major employment centres (Downtown Dartmouth and Downtown Halifax).

    Further, the site is currently being used as a parking lot which contributes very little to the surrounding community or urban fabric.

    All of these factors together make the subject property an optimal location for this type of development.

Site Plan Approval Process

  • “As-of-right” is a term that refers to development that meets the policies and regulations outlined in the land use by-law. Conversely, a development agreement needs to be obtained for a development that differs from what is allowable in a land use by-law. A successful development agreement eventually results in the land use by-law being amended to permit the specific project in question. A site plan approval falls somewhere in between these types of development. Similar to a development agreement, site plan approvals involve an application to build something that would not be allowed under the planning documents while also requiring a formal application and public engagement. However, unlike a development agreement, site plan approvals can only vary items from a certain list of built form elements and do not require the land use by-law to be amended.

  • While these elements can vary between different municipalities and planning areas, under the applicable land use by-law (found here), the variable built form elements are as follows:

    (a) Roof edge setbacks of height-exempted building rooftop features

    (b) Streetwall articulation

    (c) Grade-oriented premises

    (d) Maximum building dimensions in the CEN-2, COR, or HR-2 zone

    (e) Unique building functionality

    (f) Unique building design

    (g) Cornice line height for new main buildings or additions to main buildings on a property abutting a registered heritage property or abutting a heritage conservation district

    (h) Applicability of general design requirements for a new construction on a registered heritage property outside of a heritage conservation district.

    Our site plan application is trying to vary item (d), the maximum building dimensions in the CEN-2 zone. This list and more information on site plan approvals can be found in Part I, Chapter 3 of the Regional Centre Land Use By-law.

  • No. The site plan approval is only set to change the maximum building dimensions for the podiums (bottom three floors) of the towers. The height, massing, and density of the towers will remain unchanged.

  • Yes. Without the site plan approval, the buildings will still be able to be built as-of-right under the regional centre land use by-law. The only difference is that without the site plan approval, the three buildings will be separated at their base and the property will have to be subdivided into multiple parcels.