Changes to Skye Halifax rejected by HRM design committee

HALIFAX, N.S. — 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. proposed two, 21-storey mixed-use towers with a shared base. They’re looking to build a hotel with 69 rooms, ground-floor 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.

An approval in 2019

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 and is currently bringing down a vacant office building on the property. They also received 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 a new site plan approval and that’s why they were 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 recommended 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 six variances — or exceptions — for these elements.

The project already has another kind of 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.

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.”

Ian Watson, senior planner with Upland told the committee on Monday night that most of the residential units will be large and can accommodate families.

He said it’s common to come across changes when getting into the detailed design, especially for a project like this with three street frontages with a 7.6-metre elevation difference, vehicular access and a viewplane restriction.

“The biggest change in all of this I think is the change to the towers, accommodating more mechanical space and using that to define a much stronger top to these buildings,” Watson told the committee.

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.

The vote

The committee sided with HRM staff’s recommendation to refuse the updated application from United Gulf, but many committee members said it was with reluctance as the 2023 plan made considerable improvements to the public plaza/passageway.

“There seems to me that there’s an opportunity, there’s a developer who is taking an initiative to create a quasi-public space (plaza) … and they’re taking that initiative and it seems like an opportunity that shouldn’t be dismissed,” said Doug Raphael. “We’re always trying to push for more outdoor space in whatever form so why does it have to be all or nothing?”

Dean MacDougall, HRM planner, said time is running out under the Downtown Halifax Plan “so room for negotiations are limited,” and if some variances aren’t allowed, it would still involve a redesign.

The developer can now appeal the decision at regional council or go back to the 2019 plan.

Jonathan Goguen-Manning said he likes the idea of it but “every developer needs to work within the bounds of the area and I have more concerns and fears of making the towers sit awkwardly on the site, too close to the street, too close to each other.”

He said everyone else has to work within those bounds and the negatives outbalance the positive of the passageway.

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.