Taller buildings proposed for downtown
Draft of new blueprint raises concerns, but city says plan will be sensitive to heritage, affordability, sustainability
A new development plan is expected to pave the way for a changing downtown Hamilton skyline, leaving some wondering if residents and businesses will be left behind and whether the city is doing enough to negotiate with developers.
A revised Downtown Hamilton Secondary Plan — a blueprint setting out how an area of the core will be built up and the types of development permitted — will be made public Monday and presented to the city’s planning committee next month.
The blueprint applies to the section of the city bordered by Victoria Avenue and Hunter, Queen and Cannon streets while also encorporating properties fronting onto James Street from St. Joseph’s Hospital to the CN Rail line.
Prior to the release of the final version, some local residents and neighbourhood associations expressed concerns about the plan’s most recent draft. They worried it would allow developers to build tall as a right and questioned why the city isn’t using lower height limits as a bargaining tool to leverage community benefits from new development.
They argued the maximum building height map included in the October draft showed almost all the area included in the plan could reach six storeys, and more than half could be possibly granted the
right to climb as high as 30 storeys.
But planning director Steve Robichaud stressed the maximum height map must be read in conjunction with the zoning bylaw and the Tall Building Study and Guidelines.
The final revision has taken into account feedback from land owners, developers and neighbourhood associations on “height, heritage and housing,” he added.
A point the city has continuously heard from the community is new buildings shouldn’t be taller than the escarpment, he said.
But other factors also have to be taken into account when determining permitted height, including lot size, access to sunlight and wind impact, he added.
“We’re looking to provide more clarity into what areas you can do a building that’s let’s say between 12 and 20 storeys, and what area can accommodate a building between 12 and 30 storeys,” Robichaud said about the final version.
Shawn Selway was one of the organizers of a recent community meeting to discuss the downtown secondary plan, which was attended by close to 200 people.
The point of the gathering and the broader campaign called the People’s Plan for Downtown Hamilton is to “fight for a better plan.
“One that prevents displacement and prioritizes affordability, community and sustainability,” according to its website.
Selway, a longtime Hamiltonian, said the group wanted to gauge local interest in providing recommendations to the city on how language and provisions in the plan could be made stronger to ensure the community would benefit.
“One of our chief problems is affordability,” he said, noting there are concerns the current draft could increase land values and make it more difficult to keep or build smaller, more affordable rental buildings.
Selway questioned whether the city could get developers to agree to build affordable units through Section 37 of the provincial Planning Act, which is often referred to as the “bonusing” tool.
Environment Hamilton head Lynda Lukasik, who spoke at the meeting about bonusing, said she finds it curious that while some municipalities like Cambridge are using Section 37 to negotiate nicer streetscapes and public art exhibits when developers’ projects don’t meet zoning rules, Hamilton is still incentivizing development downtown.
“Aren’t we past that?” she added.
On the whole, Environment Hamilton supports the need to intensify the core as to not sprawl into the Greenbelt, but Lukasik questioned whether 30-storey towers are the best way to achieve density, pointing to other options like tiny homes and backyard accessory units.
As for affordable housing, Robichaud said the city plans to ensure there is a replacement strategy for any rental units lost through demolishing small buildings to erect highrises.
Council has already directed staff to look at how to increase the supply of affordable housing downtown through inclusionary zoning and bonusing, he said.
Robichaud said the city is looking at possible opportunities to use bonusing downtown and what sort of framework it could take.
But because the city offers incentives to encourage development, like waving development charges and parkland requirements, it puts them in a Catch-22 situation.
“How do we reconcile that we’re trying to encourage and facilitate development in the downtown ... and then you come in with a bonusing regime?”