Facing near-unanimous opposition to the widening of Bayers Road, HRM today decided to take cover for a year.

The HRM Regional Council today deferred for at least one year any decision on whether or not to approve two large technical reports which would have effectively committed the muncipality to the $21-million project.

Council decided to complete the review of the 2006 Regional Plan before considering a project that calls for the two-lane Bayers Road to be widened to five to six lanes between the CN overpass and Connaught Avenue and to four lanes between Connaught Avenue and Windsor Street.

Councillor Jennifer Watts said that an estimated 90 properties would be affected, in whole or in part. Homes would be lost and front yards carved up. 

Three apartment buildings near Connaught Avenue and Bayers Road would be leveled, Counclllor Jerry Blumenthal said.

Several hundred residents had voiced their opposition at a community meeting on September 14. Mayor Peter Kelly and several councillors attended that meeting.