Mixed-income tower pitched for City of Hamilton land downtown
By Matthew Van Dongen
http://www.thespec.com/news-story/69...land-downtown/
A 20-storey mixed-income development envisioned on York Boulevard is among the first in an expected "wave" of proposals to turn city-owned land into affordable housing.
Councillors Chad Collins and Jason Farr will present a motion Oct. 19 calling on the city to gauge private sector interest in turning city-owned 191 York Blvd. — currently the leased, one-storey home of Community Living Hamilton — into a "high density, mixed use, mixed income" development.
Planners suggest the property could accommodate a 20-plus storey development with up to 400 units, but Collins stressed any project ultimately pitched by a developer would have to pass rezoning and public consultation "smell tests."
He said ideally, a redevelopment of the property at York and Caroline Street would include offices, parking, market rate and affordable housing — as well as new program space for Community Living Hamilton. The agency is keen on the prospect of new digs for its special-needs clients, who range from children to seniors, said executive director Sherry Parsley.
"From our perspective, it's appealing to think about a new building with space tailored to our programming needs," she said, pointing to a more accessible gym as an example.
"Being on a major bus route, on the edge of the downtown, it just seemed like an obvious opportunity to test what resources we can squeeze out of the private sector," said Collins, who also chairs the board of CityHousing Hamilton. "For a city that is land-rich but cash-poor, this is an obvious opportunity to explore."
It's not the only opportunity, either, said Farr, who suggested the pitch could be the first in a "wave of potential partnerships" explored in an effort to shrink a wait list of 6,100 individuals and families in need of a more affordable place to live.
The city is poised to sign off Wednesday on a special subcommittee to consider such partnerships in future. A separate land use "task force" is also taking a closer look at how to best use the city's 2,000 properties and 25,000 acres of public land.
Related public agencies are also busy exploring unique partnerships. For example, the city and public school board are in talks about the feasibility of building seniors housing above the Riverdale community centre, which is in need of major renovations.
Ward 4 Coun. Sam Merulla has also facilitated talks between the city's social housing agency and a developer interested in combining private land and aging social housing to create a new, mixed-income development that could add 700 units in the east end.
Farr said he's waiting for the results of a study on the possible redevelopment of under-performing municipal parking lots — about a third of which lost money last year.
A short list of candidate lots has not been made public yet, but Farr has pointed in the past to the potential of a municipal lot across from police headquarters. A Spectator analysis of parking revenue earlier this year showed the city lost $22,000 just maintaining the little-used municipal lot at the corner of Barton and Caroline streets.
But just because a city parcel is available doesn't make it simple to redevelop.
North End residents protested a 2012 effort to redevelop a 1.5-acre piece of green space at the corner of Bay and Strachan streets that Hamilton bought decades ago for a lower city ring road that never happened.
"Residents had used it as a park for decades," said Rae Pemberton, who was part of a group that gathered 1,100 signatures on a petition protesting redevelopment. Last year, the group officially opened a "cultural garden" on the site complete with engraved poetry in variety of different languages.
Farr acknowledged the groundswell of resident concern, but didn't rule out revisiting housing on the site if it's needed. "We committed to leaving it as a garden for the time being … It's by design a temporary use."
Pemberton said she supports the quest to create more affordable housing, but suggested green space shouldn't be first on the list of building sites.
"Brownfields? Parking lots? That sounds great," she said. "There are lots of other things you can develop that aren't parkettes."