HFX Sprawl Watch: Moving Government Services Away from Core

By BRUCE ERSKINE Business Reporter

Chronicle Herald

Nowhere is a growing location in Halifax

Janet Brush says Access Nova Scotia will inconvenience a lot of people by moving from Mumford Road on peninsular Halifax to Bayers Lake Business Park. (Eric Wynne / Staff)

Access Nova Scotia’s move from the Halifax Shopping Centre to the Bayers Lake Business Park has Janet Brush and her Facebook friends all a-twitter.

“Access Nova Scotia will become inaccessible to me and a whole lot of people,” the Halifax resident said in an interview Thursday.

The government office, which issues driver’s licences, vehicle registration permits, birth and marriage certificates and various business licences, is moving from Mumford Road to 300 Horseshoe Lake Dr. in the Bayers Lake Business Park, effective Oct. 1.

Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations said the move was necessary because the government office’s lease was expiring, the shopping centre had other plans for the space and there wasn’t another location nearby that met Access Nova Scotia’s requirements.

Brush posted her concerns about the office’s move on Facebook and attracted 22 comments from a variety of people, including some who work with the poor and the disabled, who shared her objections.

“A lot more people than me are outraged,” she said. “A number of groups are disadvantaged by this.”

Brush said it took her an hour by bus to travel recently from her home in central Halifax to the Keshen Goodman Public Library, which is located near the entrance to Bayers Lake Park.

She said much of the business park doesn’t have sidewalks and questioned whether the new Access Nova Scotia site is on main bus routes.

Brush said Access Nova Scotia could use the Bayers Lake location for vehicle-related permits while maintaining a storefront office in peninsular Halifax for other government business.

“I suggested the old Buckley’s Music (store),” she said, adding that she contacted her MLA, Howard Epstein, and her municipal councillor, Jennifer Watts, to express her concerns about the move.

Watts agreed that the new location, which she thought will be near the Rona outlet at 350 Horseshoe Lake Dr., is relatively isolated.

“I definitely think it should be looked at,” she said in an interview on Thursday.

Municipal council recently voted down Watts’ request to have the mayor write the province expressing concern about the move, saying it was a provincial government matter.

Service Nova Scotia spokesperson Angel Limgenco said Thursday the Access Nova Scotia office will be located in the former Lane furniture store near Rona.

“It’s the best location for us at this point,” she said, adding the department wanted to relocate the office on the peninsula but didn’t get any bids that met its requirements.

Access Nova Scotia also has local offices in Dartmouth and Lower Sackville and services are available online, she said.

( berskine@herald.ca)

‘A lot more people than me are outraged. A number of groups are disadvantaged by this.’

janet brushHalifax resident