Off-campus student housing raises concerns

1,400-room proposal ‘just too big,’ Ainslie Wood/Westdale Community Association says

McMaster University’s plan for its first ever off-campus student residence is suddenly running into stiff neighbourhood opposition.

The proposed jumbo development on Main Street West, which is intended to house some 1,400 first-year students in a multi-storey 52-metre-tall building, has a projected completion date of 2020.

But the Ainslie Wood/Westdale Community Association has recently come out against the “monstrosity” in its present form, arguing it will have long-term negative impacts on the immediate neighbourhood.

“We’re not against a development, but it’s just too big,” said association president Ira Rosen.

According to Rosen, McMaster increased the project from about 800 to 1,400 rooms but failed to tell the association until the “very last minute” before it submitted plans to the City of Hamilton.

Rosen says the group is concerned, among other things, about “oversaturated foot traffic” in the area and that the building will only have six parking spots. He argues the lack of parking is bound to create traffic chaos on side streets during the yearly student move-in and move-out.

The building is to be located on the Westdale side of Main West, between Forsyth Avenue South and Dalewood Avenue and bordered at the back by Traymore Avenue.

Ward 1 Coun. Aidan Johnson is calling on McMaster to find a compromise.

“There has to be a happy medium. I think that McMaster has some work to do. I think McMaster has to modify its plan and the discussions need to continue.”

Happily, it sounds like Mac is prepared to do just that. Roger Couldrey, McMaster vice-president of administration, notes the university doesn’t want to upset the good rapport it has with the community.

“We’re in the early stage of a collaborative process here, and we’re fully expecting that we’re going to get more feedback and we’re fully expecting that we’ll make some changes to the plan.”

The development is a joint project between McMaster and Knightstone Capital Management. Couldrey declines to discuss the financial details of that partnership. He says the cost of the 12-storey project has yet to be finalized but will be “tens of millions of dollars.”

Couldrey notes the building will be operated by the university as part of its student residence system. It’s a two-phase project. The first phase will have up to 900 rooms, the second phase about 500.

According to city planner Adam Lucas, the McMaster/Knightstone team recently submitted applications for Official Plan and zoning amendments. He says the Ainslie Wood/Westdale Association is the only community group to have expressed concerns, but several area residents have as well.

Rosen stresses that his group, which has about 200 members, is not opposed to a student residence on the site. It’s the scale that troubles.

“We want them to do a development and we understand that they have to put the kids somewhere. And we’d rather have them in a McMaster-operated facility than living in private homes. But by the same token, why is it always at the cost of the community?”

It’s no mystery why the association likes the idea of students living in a universityrun building.

The student-saturated Ainslie Wood and Westdale neighbourhoods are breeding grounds for property maintenance and noise complaints.

Housing students in a McMaster-run residence could help mitigate those problems because the students living there would be subject to the same code of conduct as those living in campus residences.

Mac currently has 12 on-campus residences which house almost 3,600 students. The Main West project would not only be its first off-campus dwelling, it would be the largest of the lot.

There are a couple of motivations at play here for the university. Mac hasn’t been able to guarantee first-year students a residence spot for several years. This project will change that. Secondly, the building will help address neighbourhood concerns about student housing.

Obviously, that suggests both town and gown have strong reasons to make the project work.