Forty-five-storey waterfront tower target of appeal
Project ‘ignores and abandons’ previous community plan, applicant argues
A plan for a 45-storey tower at Hamilton’s west harbour is the target of a resident’s appeal to the province’s land-dispute tribunal.
The lakeside skyscraper “ignores and abandons” a previous community-informed vision for more modest “gentle-density” development in the area, Scott Patterson argues in his application to the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT).
As such, the tower plan is a “classic ‘bait and switch’ without any regard” for the city’s years-long Setting Sail planning exercise for the North End, he contends.
In November, council approved the long-anticipated — and contested — 45-storey Guise Street tower at Pier 8 next to Williams Fresh Cafe and the Discovery Centre.
It’s part of development consortium Waterfront Shores’ overall plan for 1,645 units split between the tower and shorter condo and townhouses on the site, which is otherwise zoned for up to eight storeys.
The project is a partnership with the city, which owns the parcels and continues to undertake an extensive overhaul of the west harbour, including new stretches of boardwalk, park space and other amenities.
The 45-storey highrise springs from a provincial tribunal settlement of previous appeals by North End residents that required council to “consider” a taller building that allowed for less density throughout the rest of the site and more family units.
In his appeal form, Patterson lists concerns over traffic, parking, safety and shadows. He also cites a petition that residents have signed against the tower.
“The waterfront is not the place to build a (45-storey) tower,” the Guise Street resident wrote. Patterson couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
Council’s approval of the tower was the “last piece of the puzzle” to start preparing for construction with an initial focus on lower-rise blocks, Joe Valela, principal of consortium member Tercot Communities, told The Spectator in November.
“I think Hamilton is on its way to becoming a world-class waterfront city. I think it deserves to be that.”
Certainty of the 45-storey tower is crucial because changes to the highrise could influence the distribution of the 1,645 units in other buildings on the site, Valela noted.
With a phased plan over at least a decade until full build-out, it’s not yet clear when construction of the centrepiece tower will start, but shovels should be in the ground at the eastern part of the site this year, he said.
Bruce Kuwabara, the world-renowned, Hamilton-raised architect who designed the tower, has described it as a “flagship” for Hamilton that would be visible from across the bay.
The proposal cleared council but not without reservations and objections from some, including Coun. Tom Jackson, who called it a “monstrosity” and example of vertical intensification “run amok” on the waterfront.
No date has been set to handle the appeal, which is still at the tribunal’s “intake” stage. The quasi-judicial challenges typically involve case-management sessions before hearings get underway.
The robustly litigated waterfront project is the second city partnership with private developers to recently find itself subject to an OLT struggle.
Canadian National Railway has appealed land-use changes to redevelop Jamesville, where 91 former CityHousing townhouses have sat vacant for years, into a 447-unit, seven-storey mixed-income community.
In late December, after months of talks, lawyers for the various parties said they remained “hopeful” of reaching a resolution. A nine-day hearing to argue the case is scheduled to start in May.