Halifax councillor blames 'ardent NIMBYs' for abrupt end to meeting on 5,500-unit development

A public meeting about a proposal to build 15 residential towers on Mumford Road came to an abrupt halt this week after an outpouring of opposition. 

The Halifax Regional Municipality hosted the meeting on Wednesday evening at a local church hall to engage residents about the development, which would be built on the Halifax Shopping Centre Annex property, formerly known as the West End Mall.

The meeting was called to an end after one of the attendees, Sharon O'Connor, took to the stage with a megaphone. She called on people opposed to the project to raise their hands. 

Coun. Shawn Cleary, who represents the area, requested the megaphone to also speak to the crowd of roughly 100 people. He soon after called the event to a halt halfway through, after scolding the behaviour of some attendees.

"We have a group of very ardent NIMBYs who are opposed to something, and don't want to have input into building a financially and environmentally sustainable community in the West End … They're very afraid of change," Cleary told CBC News in an interview.

O'Connor told CBC News she has concerns about the density that a total of 5,500 units housing 12,000 new residents would bring to the area. 

"We don't want Halifax to turn into Manhattan, and I don't think this one small area should be the answer to the housing problem in the city," said O'Connor.

The proposal, dubbed the West End Mall Future Growth Node by city planners, is comprised of two phases. The first phase, which could take up to 20 years, would see a strip mall and Tim Hortons demolished to make way for the first six residential towers.

The development would also move Halifax Transit's Mumford Terminal underground, beneath Mumford Road. 

In the second phase, stores on the former West End Mall property—including Walmart and Sobeys—would eventually make way for more residential towers. The city says it could be 40-50 years before the second phase is complete.

There is no timeline yet for when the project would get final approval or start construction.  

A number of residents who have concerns about the project have formed a group called Shape Mumford Growth. 

"We're not against the development, but we are concerned about the size and scope," said group spokesperson Adrienne Malloy. 

The Wednesday event offered a display of designs for the proposed development and provided surveys, but residents had no chance to ask questions.  

"It is a poorly organized waste of time. This was in no way, a meeting," O'Connor told CBC News in an interview. 

Halifax has seen record-setting population growth in recent years and rent and home prices have soared as the supply of housing has tightened.  

Resident Owen Greenberg, who has a disability, attended Wednesday's meeting and said more housing development in the city core is badly needed.

"I want to show my support for any density, any transit-oriented density, any walkable density, because it would let me survive in this city," said Greenberg.

Others also welcomed the redevelopment of a commercial area into a residential one. 

"It [is] a giant parking lot and a bunch of big box stores that have no Nova Scotian roots or heritage," said Nathan Scovil at the meeting. 

For some, the reaction to the outcry at the meeting was disheartening. 

"I can barely afford the rent and I live with no kids. My husband and I make the average salary for Nova Scotia,"  said Julie Zwicker.  

"I'm afraid that I will not have a home, and people here do not seem to be supportive of that. It was totally shocking."