Hamilton Waterfront

[CaptainKirk]

Originally Posted by Dr Awesomesauce

^What do you mean by 'open space'?

Page 14, the green portion.

http://www.hamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/...esentation.pdf

[ScreamingViking]

Space is definitely desirable, but I think there will be some pretty good balance down there when you consider the entire stretch between Bayfront Park and the Haida. To make the most of the waterfront's potential some compromises on public space are necessary, in my opinion.

I'm glad they're leaving the western portion of pier 8 open, and maybe the area from pier 7 along the west side of the access road will be made nice since it looks like they're moving the road.

I'm also happy they're breaking up the new development into smaller blocks, rather planning for one or two large ones. That should allow for pedestrian flows and help it feel more like a neighbourhood (though we'll have to see what kinds of designs are proposed for the buildings and how they'll integrate with the new streets and walkways)

One thing I'd like to see is better use of the big parking lots adjacent to piers 5 and 6. They're necessary for the marinas and Pier 4 Park, but in the longer term I'd hope to see them developed, with parking hidden within mixed use structures.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Yeah, I think the plan is great. Having open space around the perimeter of the pier is all you need. The core of the pier should be dense giving the sense of a real urban space or 'outdoor room' as it's sometimes referred.

[lucasmascotto]

Group eyes purchase of harbour site under cleanup order
The Hamilton Spectator
By: Matthew Van Dongen

The city has been approached by a group interested in buying a notorious west harbour property full of barrels of suspected toxic waste.

Local environmental activist Matt Jelly spurred outrage in 2010 after he revealed the discovery of hundreds of chemical-laced barrels at 249 Hess St. N. The property remains under a provincial cleanup order and the city passed up the chance to take over the land in November following a failed tax sale.

But an unidentified local investor recently contacted the city to "kick the tires" on the property on behalf of a larger group, said tax director Larry Friday.

Friday wouldn't identify the investor and said he didn't know what the group had in mind for the derelict property. But he noted the investor also asked about the city's plans for its west harbour properties in the Barton-Tiffany neighbourhood.

The city spent more than $8 million buying those lands under threat of expropriation to make room for a proposed west harbour stadium that never went ahead. An urban design study for the area is under way.

The Hess Street property, owned by Dave Madan, is $168,000 in arrears, but Friday said the city can't legally try another tax sale until December.

The Spectator wasn't able to reach Madan on Wednesday.

Ward Councillor Jason Farr said he hadn't heard of the potential ownership group.

"I'm intrigued; I'd love to hear more," said Farr, who spearheaded a city effort to clean up another contaminated Madan-owned property in 2011.

The city spent $135,000 demolishing an unsafe building on the Catharine Street site and disposing of another cache of barrels.

Soon afterward, Madan launched a $3.5-million lawsuit against the province and the city. He also faces unresolved provincial charges related to cleanup orders at both properties, with a trial set for May.

If the city can't sell the polluted problem properties, it should seek federal and provincial help, said Councillor Chad Collins, who is working on a motion to request aid.

"The city could take those properties over but, if we take on the liability associated with the pollution, we will need some help," he said.

[NortheastWind]

Waterfront plans floated - The Spec

City officials will host a public meeting to provide an update on the Official Plan and zoning bylaw amendments for the West Harbour Waterfront Recreation Master Plan, on Tuesday, Feb. 4 at 9:30 a.m. in council chambers on the second floor of Hamilton City Hall.

The area represents approximately 29.6 hectares over a 4.7-km stretch of waterfront and includes the lands along the harbour from Bayfront Park to Pier 7, which encompass Bayfront Park and Pier 4 Park.

www.thespec.com/news-story/4344504-signpost/

[thmx]

New Hamilton Waterfront promotional video:

• Video Link

[Beedok]

Mmmm.... Ice cream . . .

[matt602]

Is there any ice cream though?

[SteelTown]

Scoops

[ScreamingViking]

Too many green-coloured buildings. We need variety down there.

Nice little video.

[lucasmascotto]

Partnership spurs remedial work along city’s waterfront
The Hamilton Spectator
By: Meredith MacLeod

David Young wants to see a transformation of the city's waterfront — and he's hoping a $500,000 donation from his foundation will help that happen.

The Hamilton Community Foundation, Evergreen CityWorks and senior city staff are forming a partnership trio to work on a plan to tackle greening and revitalization projects in the west harbour district.

City councillors unanimously approved a $150,000 funding request Wednesday to bring the total value of the multi-year project to $650,000.

The partners are expected to come back with priority projects and timelines within a few months.

Young is a Hamilton native, brother to Tiger-Cats' owner Bob Young and part of a family dynasty in the city. A successful Toronto businessman, he started working on a deal to donate money from the Michael Young Family Foundation to his hometown's revitalization.

He and Toronto planner John van Nostrand, a fellow Hamiltonian, pitched the idea to Terry Cooke at the HCF and the folks at Evergreen.

"What would I really love to see? I'd love to have a downtown core that beats the crap out of Toronto's," said Young. "I hope to see lots of brownfield recovery from the Stelco site all the way down to the stadium."

Cooke says the intention is to find ways to accelerate projects already identified as priorities in a series of master plans, studies and community consultations. He said the initiative is at least a two-year project.

Possible projects include neighbourhood parks, food gardens, a greenway corridor along the railway tracks and remediation of waterfront industrial lands. According to a report presented to council, the goal is to take on "quick starts" that will "produce short-term visible results" while also planning a large-scale initiative.

Evergreen is best known for its signature Evergreen Brickworks site, a former brick quarry and factory in Toronto's Don Valley that has been converted into an urban environmental park.

Just over a year ago the 20-year-old environmental group launched CityWorks, aimed at fostering sustainable infrastructure in Canada's cities.

"What really excites me about this project is that the momentum is already there. There is an opportunity for the city to reinvent itself as it moves forward," said Stewart Chisholm, director of partner services with Evergreen CityWorks.

Downtown Councillor Jason Farr offered to find the city's $150,000 contribution out of his area rating budget. City staff will investigate that possibility.

"This partnership represents a tremendous leap forward in engagement and study related to council's strategic mandate of developing our downtown and waterfront."

[lucasmascotto]

Councillors hail milestone day in city control of waterfront
CBC Hamilton
By: Samantha Craggs

For 15 years, the city has been trying to get its hands on Piers 7 and 8 so it can develop Hamilton’s waterfront. And on Wednesday, it came a step closer to happening.


The general issues committee voted to sign an agreement with the Hamilton Port Authority (HPA) to the authority to manage the marina Piers 7 and 8.

And while the marina management is the main part of the agreement, the more important element was that it terminates a lease that will lead to developing the city’s waterfront, Coun. Brian McHattie said.


“That’s the real highlight of this, to bring those lands back into our full ownership and our control,” McHattie said.


“This is really a milestone day.”

The city has owned the land at Piers 7 and 8 since 2000, but has been leasing them to the port authority. HPA's Pier 7 lease would have ended in 2015, and the Pier 8 lease in 2025. But last year, the authority agreed to terminate the lease early.

When the land is back in the city’s hands, it hopes to invite developers to build 1,600 residential units on Pier 8 and 13,000 square feet of commercial institutional space. It will bring it about $7.5 million in property taxes per year, said Chris Phillips, manager of waterfront initiatives.


The city has been negotiating for 15 years to get its hands on the waterfront land, said Coun. Chad Collins of Ward 5.


Coun. Sam Merulla of Ward 4 called Wednesday’s vote a landmark day.


“We have taken so many baby steps to this one giant step that’s before us today,” he said.


“All great cities in the world have great waterfronts.”


Under the new 25-year agreement, the HPA will operate the marina until 2039. The authority has already approved the agreement in principle. City council will ratify the general issues committee vote on April 9.


In approving the agreement, councillors also voted to spend $14 million on projects such as shoreline protection and marina upgrades and capital improvements.

The HPA issued a media release immediately after the vote, hailing the future of a "vibrant, mixed-use harbour."

“We worked closely with the city to make this agreement happen," said Bruce Wood, HPA president and CEO.

"It is a win-win that serves the interests of residents by allowing the West Harbour development plan to move forward, while being consistent with HPA’s mandate of operating a prosperous commercial port."

Under the agreement, HPA would lease a new city-owned five-acre property south of Pier 22, adjacent to the city’s recycling facility.

[thistleclub]

Hamilton north-end group takes waterfront decisions to OMB
(CBC Hamilton, Samantha Craggs, Apr 4 2014)

A group of north-end residents will battle the city at the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) to stop a plan that includes new commercial buildings along the bay front, and a parking garage tucked under a city park.

The North End Neighbours (NEN) say they weren’t consulted when the city adapted a new zoning bylaw for the west harbour. The zoning bylaw includes four businesses — a “power centre,” as the NEN calls it — at the foot of James Street.

The NEN are concerned about the power centre, as well as a plan to put a 400-vehicle car park at Bayview Park, with the park being located on top of the garage. But the group is primarily upset that it wasn’t consulted on any of this, and it’s supposed to be, president PeggyAnne Mansfield said.

“We want for north-end residents to be able to talk about what’s happening here,” she said.

To make the changes, Mansfield said, the city needs to strike a stakeholder advisory committee that includes boating groups and the NEN.

Waterfront development is a big issue for the city of late. In 2012, it adopted a plan called Setting Sail, a guide to development along the waterfront.

In 2013, the city announced that it had negotiated the early termination of a lease with the Hamilton Port Authority, freeing up Piers 7 and 8 for development. The city plans wide-scale commercial and residential development, and about $7.5 million in new taxes generated on Pier 8 alone.

In March, the city passed a new zoning bylaw allowing for a number of changes, including the four commercial buildings and the changes to Bayview Park. While Setting Sail specifies that the NEN should be consulted, it wasn’t, Mansfield said.

The group’s primary concern is the amount of traffic these projects will generate, she said. The parking garage will invite 400 new vehicles on top of what the commercial development will draw.

The north end has 5,600 residents, about one-fifth of whom are children under 15, she said.

“It’s not like this is a big box store somewhere where the only part of the community is a parking lot where everyone parks,” she said. “This is a community made up of a lot of seniors who have to navigate these streets. There are children playing.”

The city won’t comment on cases before the OMB. But the NEN says it’s hopeful the case won’t go the full length of an OMB hearing, and that it can meet with the city to resolve the issue.

Coun. Jason Farr of Ward 2 said that the NEN haven’t approached him to set up a meeting with the city.

If they do, “I have no problem facilitating a meeting,” he said.

The NEN has long advocated for traffic-calming measures, including reducing the speed limit on many of its streets to 30 kilometres per hour.

The OMB appeal doesn’t sidetrack the city’s plans to encourage residential and commercial development on Piers 7 and 8, city staff says. On Wednesday, councillors officially voted to terminate the leases with the port authority.

[thistleclub]

Footnote to a story on Burlington's Paradigm condos in today's Spec:

Molinaro says his company has expressed an interest to the city about building on Pier 8. "That's the best piece of land, it's a jewel," he says.

Pier 8 has a six-storey height restriction, but Molinaro sees a development on Hamilton's waterfront similar to Paradigm.

"Height scares people. You can build short and fat or tall and skinny and keep the vistas and views."

[bigguy1231]

We will never see any development of any substance on our waterfront as long as city hall listens to groups like NEN. Nimbyism will stall the development of Pier 8 for 20 years.

We should be encouraging developers to come in and build in the North end rather than discouraging them with limitations on the size of developments. The North end could be a destination in this city rather than being just for the few locals already living there. Density in the North end could be a good thing for this city.

[Jon Dalton]

Apparently City Hall doesn't listen, hence the OMB appeal. Those cases drag things out even longer than the city does on its own. I hope this appeal doesn't end up going forward.

[thistleclub]

Veterans’ tombstones dumped at Hamilton city cemetery
(Hamilton Mountain News, Richard Leitner, Apr 10)

They’re strewn over the side of a steep bluff at city-owned Woodland Cemetery, some just fragments of tombstones bearing a first name and partial description of a dead soldier’s service.

But others, like the grave marker for John Winfield, are more revealing, showing he served with the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry and died on Jan. 22, 1987 at age 58.

Another stone identifies Michael Klecman as having served with the Merchant Navy, but is broken in half, so only the top of the dates of his birth and death are legible.

It’s an unexpected find during a reporter’s Saturday afternoon stroll with Hamilton Beach activist Jim Howlett to check out his concern the city may be illegally dumping gravesite wastes and other debris over the bluff, which overlooks Hamilton Harbour.

“I certainly am disturbed to see tombstones of veterans broken and thrown over a cliff with a pile of other garbage,” Howlett said. “Cemeteries play a role in safeguarding dignity and respect,” he said.

“It’s going to be very troubling, I think, for a couple people to find their family’s tombstones on a cliff, sort of disregarded as being of any importance. There’s big history there.”

Murray Brown, president of Royal Canadian Legion Branch 163 on Hamilton Mountain, said he found it hard to believe the city would be so cavalier with the tombstones.

He said he wanted to investigate the matter further, but expects the city to let the Legion or a veteran’s family know if a tombstone has to be replaced for some reason.

“I think it’s disgraceful if they did do that,” Brown said. “I’ve never ever heard of that (happening).”

Read it in Full here.


City boss blames vandals, others for tossed tombstones

A city boss says he “blew a gasket” when he learned veterans’ tombstones had been dumped over a bluff at Woodland Cemetery, but is suggesting vandals or private companies are to blame.

Tennessee Propedo, manager of parks and cemeteries, said he’d fire any worker “on the spot” for violating a protocol with Veterans Affairs Canada that requires broken or replaced tombstones to be crushed to remove all identifiable features.

The broken soldiers’ tombstones were discovered by a reporter and Hamilton Beach activist Jim Howlett during an April 5 visit to the cemetery.

They were mixed in with a pile of remnant civilian markers that was in plain view just over the bluff’s edge in an area that has been cleared for more gravesites.

Speaking at Woodland on April 9, Propedo said cemetery workers retrieved the remnants for proper disposal as soon as they were made aware of the situation.

He said the markers were easier to see because the hillside is relatively bare of plants and leaves at this time of year.

“My personal opinion – I can’t be a hundred per cent certain – it’s probably acts of vandalism,” he said, suggesting a private company may also have tossed one of the markers bearing a full name and rank.

“We were not aware of it. I don’t think my staff typically go down there, on the side of the escarpment.”


Read it in full here.

[mattgrande]

Tombstone vandalism aside, Tennessee Propedo is a fantastic name.

[masterwhite]

what Hamilton Bayfront needs are glass condo towers minimum of 26 floors tall

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by masterwhite

what Hamilton Bayfront needs are glass condo towers minimum of 26 floors tall

A couple, sure.

A wall of them, no.