It’s Time To Embrace The Skyscraper

The Saturday Huddle is a weekly column that features opinion, analysis, and reflections on Huddle stories, podcasts, and business news in the region. Derek Montague is a Huddle reporter based in Halifax.

World versus world. This is a small expression I heard many years ago that has always stuck with me: three simple words that describe what happens when values don’t align.

We humans share a physical space, yet we have our own realities. And when incompatible realities collide, that is exactly what happens,  it’s world versus world.

I love Halifax but it is a city of competing worlds. I recall my first winters here when the sidewalks were treacherous but the roads were cleared pristinely. It felt like it was drivers versus pedestrians.

The recent controversy over late-night corner stores feels like neighbours versus students.

But now that Halifax (and seemingly every urban area in the world) is in the middle of a severe housing crisis, it feels as though we have two other worlds clashing: homeowners and renters.

Us renters are under immense pressure. Vacancy rates are low and the two percent rent cap doesn’t help if you’re looking for a new unit. We need more rental supply and we need it yesterday.

There is one obvious thing we can do to help curb this shortage: build everything higher. The more stories the better. Halifax is a lot like other Canadian cities — it has been height-adverse for forever and a day.

For decades we overvalued the suburban sprawl. At one point it was sold to us that everyone can afford a house with a backyard and a nice fence. For many of my generation, that dream is long gone. I’m 36 and unless I write a bestselling book one day I’m renting for life. And I’m fine with that.

But I feel my city has a responsibility to take better care of renters. I want to see skyscrapers in Halifax, filled with high vacancy rates, far into the future, regardless of population growth or market conditions.

We do need more subsidized and non-profit housing. But the other solution is to allow developers to increase supply as much as possible.

If you read up on any proposed residential tower, however, you will read complaints and objections that will make your eye roll: The building is too big compared to other structures in the area; it is unsightly and ugly; it will block a view of the skyline or the harbour.

Take, for instance, the recent story on a proposed 22-storey development in Sackville — an area of the city that has a zero-percent vacancy rate. This place needs as many units as possible.

Yet Coun. Paul Russell claims most residents he spoke to are against the development. The main reason? It’s “out of scale” for the area. NIMBYS, give me a break.

What kind of mindset is that? If buildings had to be the same height as everything around it, nothing would ever change in a city that is crying out for change. But I guess that’s the whole point of their argument: they don’t want to see major change in their area.

At a time when we have a housing crisis, these are not good enough reasons to block a project that could add much-needed rental units to a growing city.

I’m not arguing we should give developers carte blanche to put up skyscrapers everywhere they want. There are legit reasons to reject a tall building with hundreds of new units for certain areas.

It could cause traffic congestion, or maybe the plan doesn’t come with adequate parking. Maybe public transportation isn’t available as it would be needed, other reasons. But saying that a building isn’t visually pleasing is too subjective an argument at a time of a housing crisis.

I never understood the argument that tall buildings make for an ugly city. I remember when I first drove into Montreal in 2010. We arrived at night and seeing those huge buildings light up the horizon took my breath away. It’s an ode to human ingenuity and human community.

The complaints often come from homeowners in the vicinity of the development. And perhaps this is proof I was never meant to be a homeowner. I don’t understand the “not in my backyard” mindset. It’s unreasonable to live in a house for years and not expect your neighbourhood to change around you.

Maybe in a small town, but not in a city. And that’s why I choose to live in a city. I was born in a town of 550 people where nothing ever changed. And most people were nostalgic for olden times. But a city is in constant flux and always aiming for the future.

I think that may be why there are so many competing views in Halifax around how we develop. Halifax feels like a town in certain areas. But when you go downtown it’s very much like any other modern city. Halifax seems to have a mix of rural Atlantic Canada and urban North America.

So, it’s understandable that many want to keep that rural feeling while still getting the same services and amenities as a modern city.

But that can’t last forever — not if we want to meet our lofty goals as a province. Remember the government’s claim it wants our population to double from one million to two? If that happens, the largest chunk of those newcomers will arrive in Halifax.

We only have so much room for sprawl and we all want to be greener. Building up is more efficient and environmentally sound than continuing our push into suburbia.

In fairness to Halifax’s municipal councilors, the new Centre Plan does help prepare for the future. The only question I have is whether it’s high enough.

In the areas of growth identified by the plan, buildings can now go as high as 90 metres (27 stories roughly). That doesn’t sound like a lot. But an early version of the Centre Plan would have capped it at a ridiculously low 20 stories.

For comparison’s sake, in 2020, it was announced that a building in Montreal would set a new city record at 61 stories. Most importantly, that building will have 800 units. Now, Montreal is a far bigger city than Halifax and I doubt a local developer would spend the money on such a massive building here even if they were allowed.

However, if Halifax keeps growing like a modern city, one has to ask if a 27-storey limit is big enough.

The good news about the Centre Plan is a developer can build as-of-right in those zones, as long as they meet the rules and regulations. That means a project can’t be stalled by outcries from NIMBYS just because they think a 27-storey building will block their precious view.

The Centre Plan is brand new. And future councils could always amend it if there are enough complaints. So I’m not willing to declare the urban areas of Halifax as NIMBY-proof yet.

But allowing bigger buildings to be constructed as-of-right is a step in the right direction. I say let us renters unite where the sky is the literal limit.