North End appellants and city settle Hamilton west harbour planning dispute
Agreement allows for more family units in residential blueprint and traffic-calming features
NEWS Nov 22, 2019 by Teviah Moro The Hamilton Spectator
WestHarbour
An early drawing of the city’s future plans for the west harbour. - The City of Hamilton
The city and a group of North End residents have settled a dispute over the plan for a massive redevelopment at the west harbour.
They'd been at odds over the number of family units, parking spaces and traffic the blueprint for Piers 6,7 and 8 would involve.
Herman Turstrka, one of the appellants, said Friday's settlement before the provincial Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT) bridges the gulf over all three issues.
"The thing that is most important to the group of people that have been working on this is that it should be safe for children to cross the streets going to school in the morning; it should be safe for people to back out of their driveways in the morning when they're going to work."
The west harbour revamp will see roughly 1,600 residential units along with commercial and institutional uses on the city-owned parcels.
Last year, council approved a redevelopment bid from Waterfront Shores to take on the big project. The overall $156-million revisioning of the west harbour will see a host of public attractions, including a new boardwalk, restaurants and stores.
In May 2017, council approved planning changes to set the Pier 8 redevelopment into motion, but Turkstra and the Harbour West Neighbours Inc. challenged this before the LPAT.
Coun. Jason Farr, who represents the area, noted Friday that the resident challenges, however, go back a few years, originally before the now-defunct Ontario Municipal Board.
"Enough is enough. We're good to go," Farr said, explaining the disputes have involved many city staff hours and tax dollars.
The Ward 2 councillor said it's fortunate the two camps were able to settle and didn't have to go through a costlier and longer full-blown hearing.
Turkstra said the appellants wanted to ensure there was an adequate number of family homes in the plan so as to preserve the North End's existing fabric, including schools and safe streets. "Are parents going to want to live here with children?"
In a news release Friday, the city listed a number of "notable revisions" to the plan:
• Fifteen per cent of the Pier 8 units must be "family units," which means two or more bedrooms;
• All parking for Pier 8 must be within the Pier 8 parcels and not off-site;
• Parking for Piers 6 and 7 will be north of Guise Street and Bay Street North; there won't be a parking garage under Bayview Park;
• More traffic-calming measures and other improvements in the existing residential will be implemented;
• The city will consider an amendment to the Setting Sail Secondary Plan to permit a mixed-use or residential mid- to highrise development at an institutional parcel known as Block 16 on the northeast end of Pier 8, as well as a planning analysis and public consultation.
Turkstra said the appeal effort has been a "huge amount of work," but he said the tribunal mediator was "very helpful" in helping the two sides settle.
"Both sides give us stuff that they would prefer to keep."
While the city and residents have settled, a separate appeal launched by industry in the area remains unresolved.
Food processor Parrish and Heimbecker had appealed the subdivision plan over concerns the mixed-use development would limit operations of the grain-handling terminal and a flour mill on Pier 10.
Soybean producer Bunge Canada is also involved in the industrial challenge.
Farr said he's hopeful the gulf can be bridged in that dispute soon. "I'm feeling very good that it's imminent."
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905-526-3264 | @TeviahMoro
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