The executive director of the Downtown Halifax Business Commission wants to see changes made to the city charter as part of a plan to spur development.

The change would allow for so-called ‘density bonuses.’  Developers would be allowed to break current building height restrictions by as much as 30 per cent, provided they adhere to green building practices and incorporate affordable housing into their plans.

“The peninsula of Halifax and downtown Dartmouth area are the only places in the province that the municipality does not have the right to allow for density bonus,” said the commission’s Paul MacKinnon.

MacKinnon said it’s vital to grow the population living on the peninsula and in the downtown core to avoid more urban sprawl, especially in light of the promise of thousands of jobs from the federal shipbuilding contract.

Decisions like the cancellation of Metro Transit ferry runs are also detrimental to growth on the Halifax peninsula, MacKinnon added.

Halifax Regional Municipality has requested a change to the charter, but there has been no decision from the province.

The density bonusing issue will fall to the next council, following this Saturday’s municipal elections.