Focus on housing, streets at Dal master plan meeting

The first meeting Tuesday for community input into Dalhousie’s Master Campus Plan saw student housing as the main concern.

Larry Sherman, director of IBI Group and co-project manager of the Dal master plan, spoke to community members on Tuesday in University Hall. (Photo: John Packman)

Suggestions for student housing dominated a meeting for the Dalhousie master campus plan, which continues its course towards implementation in the fall of next year.

A community meeting was held last night at the Dalhousie campus, during which neighbours and community members came forward to ask questions and raise concerns. The session was led by Larry Sherman, the director of the consultation firm IBI Group, which is managing the master plan process.

The meeting in University Hall saw about 40 people in attendance, discussing issues as varied as campus aesthetics to childcare facilities.

The issue that dominated discussion last night, however, was student housing.  While some suggested the university should take advantage of the increasing number of houses for sale in the surrounding area as student accommodations by purchasing the homes, others argued for Dal-owned student housing “villages” in the downtown core or increased housing space on the main campus itself.

Sherman said the master plan will likely draw inspiration from the city.

“This is not the most exciting campus of the universities we’ve looked at,” said Sherman, “and that’s the bald truth. Students have told us that.”

“I believe [the campus] is going to contract. It’s an urban university; it’s going to look like an urban landscape and that means density.”

Sherman said density means taking greater advantage of the space to build up. He compared it to layering – a building may accommodate classrooms, offices, and student housing all in one space.

The advantage, said Sherman, is not only savings in terms of energy and space, but also increased activity on campus that draws in the surrounding community.

“I come from Toronto, and the best bookstore in the city is the University of Toronto bookstore,” said Sherman. “Everybody knows that.  University campuses often have some of the best shopping and coffee places around.”

Another heavily debated issue was that of University Avenue. One Dalhousie neighbour said he would like to see the street examined “as a pedestrian space”. Options for doing so, said Sherman, could include a park-and-ride system for those who drive to campus, a European-style model of bike loans or even changing class times so that student transit does not fall during the regular Halifax rush hour.

Sherman and Jeff Lamb, director of facilities management for Dalhousie both said that all suggestions would be taken into consideration. Two more meetings will be held during which suggestions and questions are invited.  One will be held at the Carleton Campus from 1-3 pm in the Sir Charles Tupper Building on Nov. 4.  The other will be on the Studley Campus from 12-2 pm in the Lord Dalhousie Room on Nov. 5.

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