HRM staff recommends rejecting Skye Halifax

Skye Halifax — once known around town in a previous life as the Twisted Sisters — has had a hard time getting off the ground.

A new iteration of the tower development planned for the corner of Sackville, Granville and Hollis Streets in downtown Halifax was back again for approval at HRM’S design review committee on Monday evening.

This time, Upland Planning and Design, on behalf of property owner United Gulf Developments Ltd. is proposing two 21-storey mixed-use towers with a shared base. They’re looking to build a hotel with 69 rooms, groundfloor retail, five levels of underground parking with 394 spaces and 349 residential units.

It neighbours The Maple, The Green Lantern and The Jade — all fairly recent, significant residential developments.

In 2019, the design committee approved a substantive site plan application for this project. Staff recommended the committee refuse the project at the time as it didn’t comply with the design manual in the Downtown Halifax land-use bylaw, but the committee approved it subject to several conditions such as separating the towers by at least 15 metres inclusive of balconies, and others.

Since then, United Gulf has received a demolition permit to bring down a vacant office building on the property and a building permit for the 2019 approval.

But in the course of developing their detailed building plans, they flagged some adjustments that would be needed to “accommodate mechanical and structural considerations.” They also made several tweaks to the design — the most significant related to the tower design, the space between the towers and the podium design.

Given these alterations, they need to reapply for site plan approval and that’s why they’re back in front of the design committee with a 2023 design. The update addresses some of the conditions of the 2019 approval.

And again, HRM staff are recommending the committee reject the proposal.

The development officer assigned to the case reported that it doesn’t conform to the land-use bylaw in several ways:

■ Streetline setback.

■ Minimum and maximum streetwall heights.

■ Minimum streetwall width.

■ Upper storey streetwall stepbacks

■ Upper storey side yard

stepback.

■ Maximum tower width and separation distance.

United Gulf has applied for variances — or exceptions — for these elements.

The project already has an exception. Right now, HRM is in the process of repealing land-use bylaws and strategies to make way for the Regional Centre Plan, which includes new land-use policies. But five properties deemed transition sites were allowed to remain under the guidance of the old Downtown Halifax Plan, and Skye Halifax is one of them.

A BIG THUMBS DOWN

In their report, staff wrote there is a continued concern for the lack of entries into and out of the building beyond the rear door for a secondary access for residents near Hollis Street and “a lack of engaging pedestrian experiences.”

“It is again recommended that this variance request be refused due to the fact that this space, as proposed, does not have a clear purpose and due to the lack of details on how this space will be animated and interesting for pedestrians,” staff wrote.

It also does nothing for the Halifax skyline, staff wrote.

The proposed south tower width has decreased slightly from the previous proposal but it remains “unusually large and lacks adequate rationale for its dimensions.”

And “the north tower top lacks interest and distinguishing characteristics and does not contribute to the visual quality of the skyline,” staff wrote.

The walk-through plaza is at odds with the width of the towers and it’s in a bad location, staff added.

SKYE HALIFAX WILL ‘BRING NEW LIFE’

In their submission, Upland wrote that Skye “promises to bring new life and activity to an entire city block” with frontages on Hollis, Granville and Sackville Streets. The walk-through will be a pedestrian connection with a public space “where people are invited to gather on the seating “stairs” and watch the pulse of the city.”

Upland writes that the most striking difference between the 2019 and 2023 proposals is the “substantial redesign of the south tower and associated penthouse.” It now has a more cohesive approach and has been narrowed and shifted to the south.

They updated the pedestrian walk-through because it wasn’t “barrier-free” and this version includes a ramp integrated into the seating area. They also point out that entries are located frequently along both the Granville Street and Hollis Street frontages and that a public benefit will be undergrounding wires.

It was also mentioned that they advertised and held a public information session in September but no one showed up.

A BIT OF TWISTED SISTER HISTORY

In 2005, United Gulf initially planned to build two 27-storey towers, and in the face of criticism by heritage groups, the project was referred to as the Twisted Sisters. The development was approved by council, and later by the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board after heritage groups appealed it, but United Gulf allowed the permit to expire in 2010.

In 2012 the company came back with what was described at the time as a “much grander proposal” called Skye Halifax. The original design for Skye Halifax was twin 44-storey towers curved to look like a pair of billowing sails catching the wind. That design would have been 106 metres higher than allowed by HRM by Design and it was rejected by council.