N.S. developer ordered to remove 2 extra storeys he built without permission

Stefanie Miller says she has dealt with noise and garbage from the development neighbouring her Dartmouth, N.S., home for years — with large scaffolding equipment once dropping onto her roof.

“I suppose we always feel like something could fall on us,” Miller said Wednesday.

“The neighbourhood’s been dealing with this for a long time and we really just want it to be over.”

But the building at 169 Wyse Rd. will not be done any time soon.

On Tuesday, Halifax council decided the developer must rip out the building’s top two storeys, which it did not have permission to build. A report from municipal staff said the move has never been done on this scale in the city.

Deputy Mayor Patty Cuttell said accepting the situation after the fact would set a dangerous precedent that could open the door to similar cases, and would be unfair to developers following the rules.

“The ‘build now, apologize later’ — you know, this isn’t a way to run a city,” Cuttell said during Tuesday’s meeting.

In October 2022, Zagros Nova Home Development Ltd. received building and development permits for a nine-storey 97-unit mixed-use residential building, which had a non-residential penthouse for mechanical and amenity spaces.

In June 2024, changes were made to various policies to speed up housing, connected to the municipality’s Housing Accelerator Fund application. They included increasing the tall mid-rise form from eight or nine storeys to 10.

Municipal staff said a building taller than 10 storeys is classified as highrise, which has different requirements than a mid-rise building. Those include different designs to help mitigate wind and shadow on the area, and separation distances from neighbours.

In September 2024, the developer asked to revise the building permit to allow an extra two storeys with 20 more units. Municipal staff denied the application because the building design did not fit local planning rules. 

But then on Nov. 20, the developer told staff the additional storeys were already under construction. They include a full 11th storey and the 12th storey as a residential penthouse.

On Tuesday, municipal staff suggested council refuse an application from Sightline Planning & Approvals on behalf of the developer to amend the local planning rules and allow all 12 storeys.

A letter from the consultant said the building was still much shorter than the possible 40-storey maximum allowed in the rapidly growing area, and there would be four extra affordable units added. This would mean a total of 19 affordable units in the building at 30 per cent below median renter income, representing about $1,247 per month for one-bedroom and bachelor units.

Area councillor Sam Austin said that after meeting with the developer, he believes the case is one of “poor judgment, some negligence, maybe some bad advice,” but not one of intentionally breaking the rules. 

“They genuinely thought that it was a matter of the paperwork catching up,” Austin said.

“Now, that’s not an excuse. You still went ahead and started building without a valid permit, and that’s really hard to look past.”

Coun. Becky Kent said she couldn’t wrap her head around the idea that the developer or the planning consultants misunderstood the rules, because “that’s their job to know.”

“This is to me so blatant, it’s a no-brainer. I’m not supporting it,” Kent said.

Dawson Patterson, manager of building standards with Halifax, said Tuesday he wanted to be clear that staff were aware of the “upper illegal storeys” quite early, once the 10th storey was built.

“You can’t prevent it, you can just document it when it happens,” Patterson said about developers breaking the rules.

CBC News on Thursday reached Abdulrazaq Zaminpeyma of Zagros Nova Home Development, who said he could not speak at this time.

Multiple councillors and the mayor asked if there were options the city could use to gather a higher density bonus fee from the developer, or require more affordable housing units, but staff said that was not possible.

Municipal lawyer John Traves said the municipal planning system is not set up to be disciplinary.

“As much as I’d like to find a way around it, I haven’t been able to,” Traves said.

The case is now before courts, which will decide if a fine should be issued.

Council refused the developer’s application on Tuesday, with only Coun. David Hendsbee voting to allow it.

Although the bottom floors of the building will likely be done in the coming months, Patterson said the municipality will not be issuing an occupancy permit for any part of the building. He said residents would have to move out anyway as the top two floors are removed.

A plan within the staff report for the demolition said there will be “full containment” with scaffolding, mesh netting and shrouds during deconstruction to address risks of falling debris, as well as exclusion zones, site security, vibration monitoring and daily inspection audits.

But next door, Miller said she is left worried about the idea of concrete falling on her home.

“This is not a developer that I would trust with an unprecedented demolition project,” Miller said.

The deconstruction is expected to take about nine months and cost the developer about $1 million.

Dartmouth developer must tear down 2 illegal floors

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