Port authority releases first sustainability report
The head of the Hamilton Port Authority says its recent focus on sustainability is an answer to the call they heard loud and clear from the local community.
Community members wanting to know “what was going on behind the gates” at the Port of Hamilton was a key take-away from the port authority’s “long overdue” update of their land use plan, which was finalized last year, said Ian Hamilton.
As a response, the authority released its first sustainability report Thursday — a way to tie together the themes they heard around social, community, environmental, financial and economic sustainability, he said.
“We make no secret, we have a business to run . ... But we can do that in a sustainable way,” the president and CEO said after Thursday’s annual general meeting and community update meeting. “That’s how we see us being successful members of the community in the long run.”
Some of the report’s highlights include:
• Starting last year, the authority began posting information on its website for all major projects and construction work that require an Environmental Effects Determination;
• Opening a new viewing platform for the public at Pier 15 on Hillyard Street, which among other things, provides a lookout on the continuing Randle Reef containment project;
• Working to enhance air quality by liaising with port tenants to address sources of dust and implement solutions, like keeping bulk piles of salt watered or covered, putting up wind barriers and investing in advanced shiploading technology
• Continuing with the two-year process of restoring the surface water area at Sherman Inlet that was illegally filled by its predecessor agency, the Hamilton Harbour Commissioners in 2000
The work to restore the shoreline was finished this year, Hamilton said. The port authority will maintain a fenced-in area of natural revegetation at the inlet. They will be putting out a call for anyone who wants to help them plant the new shoreline.
“Sometimes industry and environment clash,” Hamilton told the meeting at Tim Hortons Field. “We’re trying to find a way to work together.”
Looking ahead to upcoming projects, Hamilton said they are working with urban beekeepers Humble Bee to find a spot for hives near Sherman Inlet.
The port authority also heard during public consultations a desire to see improvements to Fisherman’s Pier, which is one of the areas they want to focus on developing a plan for this year to make it a more recreational space, he said.
At the “cornerstone” of that work is an almost 160-year-old lighthouse, Hamilton said.
The authority has approached the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and is working with public works to try and take control of the lighthouse to restore it and open it up to the public. The longterm plan is to create a museum and interpretive centre.
In 2003, the port authority announced a project for Fisherman’s Pier that would have seen the land around the lift bridge transformed into a kind of mini Granville Island, with retail, restaurants and outdoor concert space.
The plans were dropped after operational, engineering and financial issues proved too challenging.