Akoma Support Letter

December 2, 2019

Dear Mayor Savage and Members of Halifax Regional Council,

Our HRM Alliance is pleased to express our support for the Akoma Development Plans in their current form and in the requested zoning change by Akoma Holdings Incorporated.

Our HRM Alliance is a coalition of over 60 groups from across Halifax Regional Municipality with members from the business, community, and environmental sectors. We take leadership on municipal issues and are grounded in our belief in a future where ecological and social sustainability can occur harmoniously in our communities. We would like to take this opportunity to express a warm welcome to your group to join as a member of Our HRM Alliance.

The Alliance’s primary focus is on achieving sustainable communities through greenbelting and “complete communities”. We believe it is important to grow strategically, conserving the sites of importance while enhancing the livability of existing communities. We believe that the Akoma development, in its current proposed form, will take steps to build a complete community. Akoma’s plans include affordable, all-age and mixed-use residential units, access to community gathering and nature, and a focus on building access through active and public transportation. These are of top importance to building complete communities. Akoma’s proposed plans for maintaining the wilderness behind the proposed development and developing access to this wilderness via trails are important for communities. These actions identify the necessity of nature in our growing communities as well as reference the value of maintaining a green network for its ecological value. The Alliance believes in the establishment of the Halifax Green Network, guided by the Halifax Green Network Plan. In order to create an effective green network, we must prioritize the growth of complete communities as well as the protection of ecological and recreational networks.

We value the community’s internal leadership and the historical context of the proposed development.

We believe in and support the mission of Akoma Holdings to ‘offer opportunities and services that benefit the African Nova Scotian communities and the general society’. The historical and community context should be of top relevance when we consider new development.

Sincerely,
Meredith Baldwin, on behalf of Our HRM Alliance
Our HRM Alliance Coordinator