Boating clubs await city's proposal
January 12, 2009
Dana Brown
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/494616
Today is D-day for Hamilton's waterfront boating community.
For the first time during the revitalization planning process, city councillors will decide whether to support the idea of encouraging boating clubs to share facilities.
It's a contentious issue that pits a city plan, which called for clubs to come together in a marina centre, against organizations along the waterfront who say they don't want to move.
The clubs own the buildings they occupy, but are on leased city land. City staff said a lot of the leases expire in 2016 and 2018.
That gives the city the opportunity to shuffle the businesses as it strives to revamp the waterfront.
The area in question stretches from Bayfront Park to Pier 8.
The initial city plan was so divisive that the Hamilton Waterfront Trust developed an alternative plan, which many organizations on the waterfront say they prefer. It proposed leaving all facilities but one in their current place.
Now, after months of looking for common ground, city staff are coming to council seeking a thumbs up on a set of guiding principles they will use to develop the final plan.
Jill Stephen, director of strategic and environmental planning with the city, said staff still think the idea of clubs sharing some facilities is a good one, but it's too soon to tell what that would look like.
"We can't get to that stage of the plan until we know that council is buying into this overreaching philosophy that we have for how we should approach the next stages of the plan," she said.
But Martin Lipp, past-president of the Royal Hamilton Yacht Club, who will represent the Waterfront Stakeholders' Group to councillors today, said the consolidation idea isn't sitting well on the waterfront.
"There's some really major cultural differences between the organizations," he said. "And although they get along really well, and they support each other, there really is an element of, if you like, 'Good fences make good neighbours.'"
In addition to encouraging shared facilities, city staff are also proposing other changes, including increasing the amount of commercial space on the waterfront and maintaining the existing shoreline as much as possible.
There also have been concerns raised over the $81.5-million price tag on the city plan.
Councillor Chad Collins, who chairs the waterfront trust, questions who would pay for the plan to build new facilities for private operations.
Collins said there's also still disagreement over the amount of commercial space that should be present. The trust has proposed 130,000 square feet and the city is proposing a revised 75,000 square feet.
"With that comes jobs and new tax dollars and that's something that this community really needs," he said.
But John Dolbec, CEO of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce, said neither proposal goes far enough when it comes to private-sector opportunities.
Dolbec also cautioned about trying to entice private investors to the waterfront, while shuffling private organizations already there around.
Still, others aren't sure that anything needs to be done to improve the waterfront.
George Gage, president of the Leander Boat Club, said the waterfront is operating nicely the way it is.
Area resident Herman Turkstra agrees.
"I've come to understand how very skilled the people were who laid out what we have without a whole lot of fuss and muss and without big, grandiose plans," Turkstra said.
After council makes its decision, staff will develop a revised plan, which should be available to the public before summer.
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Couldn't agree more. I have enjoyed many an afternoon at the Hamilton waterfront, but would likely have enjoyed more if I could have, for instance, actually had a view of the beautiful harbour for the entirety of the walk, or had access to more on-site amenities than a Williams Coffee Pub that is ridiculously over-crowded in decent weather, as well as rather mediocre (speaking as someone who loves downtown Hamiltonian cuisine) and over-priced. 
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