Dundas Update

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Dundas continues to boom. It really is one of the finest small cities in the province and by extension, the country. It's got a great mix of urbanness, natural beauty and trendiness. Eastern Ontario and Quebec have some decent small towns and cities but I think Dundas rivals the Coburgs, Port Hopes and Stratfords of this province.

I'd be interested to hear what other people think. I happen to feel Dundas is highly underrated being overshadowed by its bigger, much-maligned neighbour.

How does Dundas stack up against other cities in the 25-50,000 range?

[matt602]

I like Dundas. I've only been a few times but I think it's a nice little town, and I enjoy how it feels like I'm in a completely different place away from Hamilton even though it's along an HSR route. I really like how unlike Ancaster and Stoney Creek, it didn't become one of Hamilton's sprawl lands. I guess it's because it's sandwiched under the mountain there.

[thistleclub]

Here's the school they're not tearing down
(CBC Hamilton, Paul Wilson, Jan 21, 2013)

City Hall has shown no great love for our architectural history. But Tuesday, as a big-windowed wonder takes shape at the very foot of the escarpment, let’s give credit where credit is due.

Last year council amended the development charges bylaw. Now, if someone restores a protected heritage property, the development fees will be waived.

This is a big deal. And in a few weeks, Hamilton city council is to approve the first application of this new measure. It will be worth $657,219, and the development-fees break goes to Mike and Dave Valvasori, local brothers who have a good reputation for giving old buildings new purpose.

Their latest job is Dundas District High School, which opened 84 years ago on an old mill property at the west edge of town. If scenery sells, this project can’t miss.

The three-storey structure, with textured brick and fine stone detailing, was the first high school in Dundas, built long enough ago that the girls entered through one grand set of doors, the boys another. Each gender had to charge past a couple of scary carved-stone gargoyles.

It seems an odd place to build a school, tucked right in by a waterfalls, cliffs of the escarpment all around. But the land was free, donated for the express purpose of education by Robert and Frank Fisher, who ran a mill there.

Dundas grew, and so did the school. There were four additions, but none marred the building’s original Collegiate Gothic style. At one time, the student population was more than 500.

New high schools got built in Dundas and old District was set aside. It did find new life as a middle school, then closed permanently six years ago.

The school went on the market. Some in the trade came by, checked it out and walked away. But Mike Valvasori says he and his brother liked what they saw here. "Old schools are very structurally sound."

(They did a loft project at the old Allenby school off Locke Street. They also did the Margaret Street Lofts in an old textile plant, and the Stone Lofts in a print factory behind the central police station.)

The brothers bought Dundas District for $600,000. Work is underway on a project with a sales value of $18 million – 44 one and two-bedroom units, from $270,000 to $800,000. So it won’t be long before the money the city surrendered in development fees comes back in new property taxes.

This project was set to go ahead before council voted to waive development fees, but Valvasori says the break is welcome. Especially when it turns out they now have to build a $500,000 wall.

This school was crowded with kids for generations, and apparently nobody worried about the trains that roll past, halfway up the escarpment. But these are different times, and present regulations require that the residents of those 44 units be protected from all hazards.

So the brothers must build a crash wall, enough to hold back a locomotive pulling four cars. It will be 300 feet long, 10 feet high, 2 1/2 feet thick, all amply reinforced with steel.

And there was a hearing before the Hamilton Conservation Authority, which had wanted more flood protection than is provided by a wall now in place. The Valvasoris spent nearly $200,000 for consultant fees and digital mapping to show that the property was already well protected.

City councillor Russ Powers spoke for them at the HCA, saying that if the kind of storm being talked about ever did hit, all of Dundas would be washed into Westdale anyway. Powers wanted to see this project go. It is where he went to school, and where he met his beloved late wife Linda.

Under a big blue tarp, mason Gus Rosati is crafting a sign out of limestone for the District Lofts. Valvasori says that with no advertising at all, they’ve already had plenty of interest. Marketing will start in the spring. The first units should be ready in the fall, with the project complete by summer of next year.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

I'd forgotten about this project. District should be reborn as a high school - Highland and to a lesser extent, Parkside being such sh*tty schools.

But it would be a great place to live. I spent one year of middle school there and it's got lots of charm. Along with a decent-sized auditorium, it's got two gyms: one in a later addition and one in the basement. There are definitely some ghosts in there. Can't wait to see the finished product.

[thistleclub]

Hamilton food lovers should spare a moment to say thank you and farewell.

Elsie Picone passes away
(Dundas Star, Jan 30, 2013)

A well-known and much-loved member of the Dundas community has passed away.

Elsie Picone died on Tuesday. She was in her 85th year.

Daughter Theresa Picone said her mother was diagnosed with cancer in December of last year. Mrs. Picone had spent the past few weeks in hospital, but was expected to return home on Monday.

“It didn’t happen that way. All seven of her children were with her since Monday, all afternoon and all through the night until she passed.”

A funeral is planned for Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m. at St. Augustine Catholic Church, 58 Sydenham St. in Dundas. Family and friends will be received at the Cattel, Eaton and Chambers Funeral Home, 53 Main St., Dundas, Jan. 31 from 7-9 p.m. and Friday, Feb. 1 from 2-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. Vigil prayers will be on Friday at 8 p.m.

Throughout her life, Mrs. Picone received numerous community awards, including Citizen of the Year, the Queen’s Jubilee Medal and Paul Harris Fellowship. She was a founding member of Dundas Community Services and an active member of her church.

“She was a pretty strong person, and something I think we will hear from a lot of people is that she was a mentor and a pillar of strength, not just for the family but for the community as well. She was small but mighty,” said Theresa.

In lieu of flowers, donations to the Juravinski Hospital or St. Joseph’s Hospital would be appreciated by the family.

Picone’s is one of the longest operating small businesses on King Street West in Dundas. Joseph Picone Senior started his grocery and fresh produce shop in 1915. Family members have continued to operate the business at 35 King St. W.

[SteelTown]

Rip

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Picone's is an institution in downtown Dundas. It has, over the years, become more of a high-end, specialty shop but it's still a must-see when visiting Dundas.

[thistleclub]

More info on the Madronich craft brewery.

As suggested in the Jan 24 Dundas Star article, the Valley City property that has been optioned is 65 Hatt. This leaves open the possibility of a retail/residential conversion for 64 Hatt, as has been hinted at in the past.

FWIW, here's the Notice of Complete Application and Preliminary Circulation to amend the Zoning By-law for 65 Hatt Street. I expect there will be some manner of project update from Councillor Powers at the Dundas Community Council meeting in two weeks' time.

[thistleclub]

Future native deer hunts in Dundas Valley to only use bows
(Dundas Star, Richard Leitner, Feb 7 2013)

The Haudenosaunee won’t use shotguns during future native deer hunts in the Dundas Valley to help ease neighbours’ concerns.

Chris Firth-Eagland, chief administrative officer for the Hamilton Conservation Authority, said Haudenosaunee representatives committed to use only bows from now on during a meeting to discuss the latest hunt, which ended Jan. 17.

They also agreed to review the duration and size of the hunt, which presently has an 80-deer limit set by a protocol agreement two years ago that requires hunters to stay at least 150 metres from homes.

Firth-Eagland said he was still awaiting confirmation of this year’s eight-week hunt results, but the number of deer killed again fell shy of 40, likely “because they know they’re being hunted now.”

Thirty-one deer were taken during the 2011 hunt, which was two weeks shorter and ended before Christmas.

“The deer are more wary,” he said. “They’re acting more like deer again.”

Firth-Eagland said neighbours were most bothered by the use of shotguns and resumption of this year’s hunt for two weeks in January, and it was the Haudenosaunee who suggested switching to bows and reconsidering the January portion.

The hunt closed the area bounded by Powerline, Martin, Jerseyville and Paddy Green roads Monday to Thursday.

“They’re showing the leadership,” he said. “They’re being, I would suggest, very respectful of the circumstance and I can be quoted that I consider their harvest to be successful from the parameters that we would have at the conservation authority – cooperation, trust, communication.”

[thistleclub]

$10,000 in grants help create outdoor lab
(Dundas Star, Craig Campbell, Feb 7 2013)

Two McMaster University biology professors received $10,000 in grants to create an outdoor education lab in the 115-acre McMaster Forest.
The new McMaster Conservation Corridor Teaching and Research Facility will preserve a link between the Dundas Valley and Cootes Paradise, and is bounded by Ancaster, Dundas and West Hamilton.

As members of the McMaster President’s Advisory Committee on Cootes Paradise, which made preservation of the Lower Lions Club Road site known to some as McMaster Forest a priority last year, professors Susan Dudley and Chad Harvey studied the property to find opportunities for its use – and applied to the university president’s Forward With Integrity funding program.

Dudley has been at McMaster for 17 years, but wasn’t particularly familiar with the untouched forest owned by the university since the late 1960s. Before she went to see it, Dudley thought is was more disturbed.

“We didn’t really have an institutional memory of the property,” she said.

Harvey suggested access to natural areas for research, education and conservation was a key reason McMaster University moved from Toronto to Hamilton’s Cootes Paradise 126 years ago, and that might explain why the university bought up neighbouring open space and forest.

Now the two biology professors agree that founding vision of preservation and environmental study has been strengthen. The advisory committee on Cootes Paradise has already had a couple of big successes – including successfully petitioning the university to introduce a 30-metre buffer between Ancaster Creek and west campus parking.

Harvey says the property provides much potential for research and education, noting there are some large old growth trees, and several invasive species to study and control.

“It’s a really interesting place in the Dundas Valley, at the edge of the Carolinian forest,” Dudley said.

Already, one of Harvey’s third year biology students is working in the property, cataloguing invasive species – in particular Blackthorn.

A fourth-year conservation biology class is working on a Blackthorn removal program, a project Harvey said the Hamilton Conservation Authority will be interested in, as they deal with their own invasive species threats.

The Forward With Integrity application received the maximum available grant of $5,000, and matching funds were provided by the university’s dean of Science – bringing the total to $10,000.

“The goal is having a grid system. That involves cataloguing all the trees and with that the flora and fauna,” Harvey said.

Dudley explained a grid system using the Smithsonian Dynamic Forest Plot Technique will be created, made up of 20-metre by 20-metre grids. Every tree within the plot will be tagged, then revisited several years later, inspected and measured.

“Other disciplines can refer to the plot. Everyone will know where they are working along the grid,” Dudley said.

The money will be used to purchase everything they need to create the grid, and maintain the ongoing forest plot program.

The duo is now working on getting the message out to their McMaster colleagues, and students, across several disciplines, that this outdoor lab will be available for use.

They see this project as expanding the university’s focus beyond its already well-known business, engineering and health sciences programs.

“There’s always been a core group of students, and faculty, interested in ecology and environment,” Dudley said.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Originally Posted by thistleclub

$10,000 in grants help create outdoor lab
(Dundas Star, Craig Campbell, Feb 7 2013)

'...Harvey suggested access to natural areas for research, education and conservation was a key reason McMaster University moved from Toronto to Hamilton’s Cootes Paradise 126 years ago, and that might explain why the university bought up neighbouring open space and forest.'

It always surprises me how many people get this wrong. McMaster moved to Hamilton in 1930, though the school was founded in 1887. The main building still stands on Bloor W and now houses the Royal Conservatory of Music.

Anyway, this is a nice little project. Lots of interesting things happening in Cootes Paradise that few know or care about.

Cootes Drive, by the way, has got to be the most unnecessary strip of asphalt in the whole city and that's saying something.

[thistleclub]

Originally Posted by pEte fiSt iN Ur fAce

Lots of interesting things happening in Cootes Paradise that few know or care about.

A Vision for an Urban Eco Park
Cootes to Escarpment Park System: A Conservation Vision
The Turtles of Royal Botanical Gardens
Project Paradise Projects

Originally Posted by pEte fiSt iN Ur fAce

Cootes Drive, by the way, has got to be the most unnecessary strip of asphalt in the whole city and that's saying something.

Via Randy Kay:

Restore Cootes
Drive Through Paradise: The History Of Cootes Drive

[thistleclub]

Opening soon...

Earth Shake Organic Bistro
103 King St. W., Dundas
289.238.8899

Via the website:

Earth Shake began out of a passion and commitment for healthy living.

We believe strongly in the age-old saying “you are what you eat.” Once we started to see the amazing benefits of daily juicing, we wanted to share it with our family, friends, and ultimately, you. Our top priority is the well-being of our customers, our staff and our community.

We began experimenting with an extensive variety of fresh fruits and vegetables from local farmer’s markets to create a delicious menu of organic juices, soups and sandwiches. Nutrient-rich drinks and foods to amplify health and mind. We believe that food has the power to transform your life. Our juices provide your body with the vital nutrients it needs to maintain optimal health.
We want you to feel and function at your best, and be willing and able to get as much from life as you can. Being healthy allows you to live life to the fullest!

We run an exclusively organic, environmentally friendly business committed to working with local farmers whenever possible and we minimize our carbon footprint by recycling, reusing, and composting virtually all of our kitchen waste. Our juices, soups and sandwiches at Earth Shake’s are prepared fresh on the spot.

Eating food that’s been freshly picked just feels different. You feel more grounded and connected to the earth. Eating lots of processed foods — frozen or from a box — makes and creates more of a gap and leaves you feeling disconnected from the earth that sustains you.

Earth Shake is a healthstyle, a journey with fresh organic food and nutrition.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Originally Posted by thistleclub

A Vision for an Urban Eco Park
Cootes to Escarpment Park System: A Conservation Vision
The Turtles of Royal Botanical Gardens
Project Paradise Projects



Via Randy Kay:

Restore Cootes
Drive Through Paradise: The History Of Cootes Drive

Some good reading and look at me complaining about people getting dates wrong: I'd thought Cootes was built in the late-50s but it was in fact built in 1937. Interesting bit of history. Thanks.

As an aside, my Dad always talked about his first trip to Hamilton marvelling at the wonder that is Cootes Drive. This was the early 60s and he'd never seen a highway quite like it before. Twenty years later he was almost killed riding his bike to work on Cootes. There was no shoulder on the road and no sidewalk or bike path either. He was hit from behind and sent several metres through the air narrowly avoiding death. It was after that that the bike path/ sidewalk was built. Unfortunately people don't care about turtles and other wildlife quite so much.

[thistleclub]

More on Shed Brewing...

Something’s brewing at former curling rink in Dundas
(Hamilton Spectator, Meredith MacLeod, Feb 15 2013)

Plans are under way to bring brewing back to the city.

Ed Madronich, who owns Flat Rock Cellars winery in Jordan, has applied for a zoning amendment that would allow a microbrewery in what was once a curling and skating rink in Dundas.

“Winemaking is a craft method, too. This was a logical step for me.”

Madronich plans to brew beer on the site that will be sold wholesale to bars and restaurants and through a small retail operation on site. The plan is to offer tours and tastings to visitors but there will not be a restaurant or bar.

Dundas and Hamilton both have a long history in brewing (there were five brewers in Hamilton in 1867, the year of Confederation) but there have been no suds made here since Lakeport closed its doors in April 2010.

Madronich, 45, and business partner Shawn Till have formed Shed Brewing Company. The name combines their two first names but also aptly describes the unique shape of the 1880s-era brick structure at 65 Hatt Street that was built as the Dundas Curling and Skating Rink.

The building, listed on the city’s inventory of buildings of architectural and historical interest, has been functioning as the warehouse of the now defunct Valley City Manufacturing plant across the street.

Madronich says the heritage of the building blends perfectly with a small brewery. He expects it will take about three to four months of renovation.

“Dundas is a great location. A lot of people travel to Dundas from a tourist perspective,” he said.

“We wanted to find a place that was unique and special … This was the right place at the right time.”

Till and Madronich played basketball together during their years at McMaster University and have remained friends. Their offer to buy the approximately 13,000-square-foot building is conditional on getting zoning approval.

The property is zoned for commercial use, but a designation to allow brewing must be added. As well, city staff will review parking requirements. There is no parking on the site.

Shed Brewing’s application was deemed complete by the city Jan. 2, according to a city planning spokesperson. Under legislation, the city has 120 days from then to bring a report to the planning committee.

Madronich began in the wine business in 1999 and opened his winery in 2005. He says the broad impact of the wine industry on the local and provincial economy, tourism and culture is often overlooked. He thinks craft brewing could have the same economic and cultural result.

Craft beers were the fastest growing sales segment at the LCBO in 2011, when sales of $22 million poured in. In 2004, the segment brought in $2 million in sales.

“There is definitely a business opportunity here,” said Madronich. “Craft beer is growing because there is demand out there for artisanal products. People want the unique products of small breweries.”

Dundas Councillor Russ Powers is fully supportive of brewing venture and says his constituents seem to be, too.

“I think it’s a wonderful renewal of a historic building. It’s been a presence in the downtown for years.”

Powers said modern technology means the brewing process is self contained and doesn’t create any smells.

“I’ve been to a few locations and I until I knew it was a microbrewery, I wouldn’t have known they were making beer.”

Phyllis Kraemer, chair of the Dundas BIA, says she has not heard one negative comment about the proposal. The BIA hasn’t formally discussed the issue, but Kraemer, owner of The Keeping Room, says she thinks a craft brewer would be a perfect addition to Dundas.

“When a big, beautiful old building that has historical background becomes empty, everybody worries. That is a pretty special building.”

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Those guys were pretty good basketball players as I recall.

I've always been interested in that building on Hatt. I'd always thought it looked like an old hockey arena; turns out I'm not that far off.

[thistleclub]

Was looking into the $1.3 million Spencer Gorge/Webster's Falls Conservation Area Master Plan over the weekend and discovered a whack of interesting historical detail from the last 200 years. Will be nice to see this area treated with greater respect.

[thistleclub]

Community to discuss future of high schools
(Dundas Star, Craig Campbell, Feb 21 2013)

Parkside Works will host a community meeting Friday to discuss how Dundas can make the best of plans to close Parkside and renovate Highland secondary school. Bob James, a founding member of the group that successfully petitioned the province for a review of the Hamilton Wentworth District School Board’s West Accommodation Review process, said he hopes the meeting will bring out supporters of both schools interested in serving the best interests of students.
The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 22 at Dundas town hall.

Among the issues James proposes to discuss are: how to insure good representation of Parkside students on any transition committee overseeing the move to one school; how busing will work; how maintenance issues at Parkside will be handled while it is still open; and what renovations will actually take place at Highland to accommodate all Dundas high school students. James said renovation proposals for the Governor’s Road school are still vague.


Public board strategy sets timetable for Dundas, Ancaster school closure studies
(Dundas Star, Richard Leitner, Feb 21 2013)

Greensville, Spencer Valley and two west Flamborough schools are slated to be among the first ones undergo a closure review as part of a strategy to try to cut the 5,000 empty classroom seats at 95 public elementary schools in Hamilton. The study is one of 14 accommodation reviews, or ARCs, recommended over the next five years by Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board staff, a process that will sweep in Dundas and Ancaster schools.

In a presentation to trustees, Ellen Warling, manager of planning and accommodation, said the strategy is flexible because provincial policies can affect school use. “We know that board priorities can change due to a variety of influences,” she said, citing the introduction of smaller primary class sizes and junior kindergarten as examples.

According to a recent Long Term Facilities Master Plan, Greensville, Spencer Valley and the two other schools – Dr. John Seaton and Beverly Central – have 265 empty seats between them, about the equivalent of the capacity at Spencer Valley. Proposed future ARCs will address six schools in Ancaster in 2015-16 and four in Dundas the following year.

[thistleclub]

Related to the Dundas EcoPark, more greenspace from the neighbours.

Holland family donates 37 acres to city for Cootes to Escarpment Park System

Long-time Burlington businessman John V. Holland—in memory of his wife, Eileen—is donating 37 acres of property in North Aldershot to the City of Burlington for use as park land.

“We have owned this land for over 30 years, and have always considered this to be one of the most beautiful parcels of land in Burlington,” Holland said. “It is our desire to see this land protected in perpetuity for future generations to enjoy as part of the Cootes to Escarpment Park System.”

The proposed Cootes to Escarpment Park System includes one of the most biologically rich areas of Canada, home to nearly a quarter of the country’s wild plants and more than 50 at-risk species....

In donating the property south of Snake Road and west of York Road, Holland will help the 10 local government and non-profit organizations protect, restore and connect more than 4,900 acres (2,000 hectares) of natural lands at the western end of Lake Ontario. Holland has also offered to work with the Cootes to Escarpment Park System group to preserve this unique biodiversity.

[thistleclub]

Dundas Eco-Park buys first property
(Hamilton Spectator, Matthew Van Dongen, Mar 12 2013)

The Hamilton Conservation Authority has stepped in to help the fledgling Dundas Eco-Park meet a looming deadline to buy its first property.

Supporters of the urban park hope to eventually connect more than 1,300 hectares of natural land between Cootes Paradise and the escarpment, from Dundas to Highway 6.

To do it, they need to obtain about 162 hectares of private land in Hamilton and Halton, either through donations or purchases. Project partners have a Friday deadline to finalize an $800,000 land purchase — their first — negotiated last year in the Pleasantview area.

They’ll make it — thanks to close to $400,000 in bridge financing from the Conservation Authority.

“The board wanted to ensure this acquisition opportunity wasn’t lost,” said Chris Firth-Eagland, the authority’s chief executive officer.

The Hamilton Conservation Foundation has raised about half the money needed to buy the 21-hectare, L-shaped slice of grasslands between York Road and the railroad, said executive director Joan Bell.

“That first purchase is making it seem very real,” said Bell, who noted conservationists in Hamilton have long dreamt of creating one of Canada’s largest urban parks. “There has been a concerted effort to protect these lands from development for some time.”

Park supporters have the rest of the year to pay back the financing.

A group of McMaster University students is hoping to raise $25,000 for the cause, said Scott MacDonald, director of the MACgreen sustainability group.

“We see this as a good opportunity to engage students, get them out of the McMaster bubble,” he said.

Land acquisition specialist Jen Baker said Friday’s purchase will help connect public, natural areas between the harbour and the Mountain, including Royal Botanical Gardens lands and Conservation Halton’s Cartwright Nature Sanctuary.

The former farm fields will create a “wildlife corridor,” but also protect habitat for rare or threatened bird species such as the bobolink and the meadowlark.

The eco-park effort has recently attracted several high-profile donations, including $502,000 from the federal government to restore lands along the old Desjardins Canal and 15 hectares in Aldershot.