All right, good afternoon everyone and welcome to our virtual design review panel meeting. My name is Edward Winter and I'm an urban designer at the city of Hamilton and coordinator of the design review panel. On our agenda today, we have a development proposal at 18 to 22, 24 to 28, and 30 King Street East and 4 Houston Street South in Hamilton. Today we have the applicant team, city staff, members of the public and media are also in attendance. Members of the public are welcome here to observe the meeting. However, there is no opportunity for commenting or questions uh from the public and media. Today's meeting is being recorded and will be uploaded to the city of Hamilton's design review panel web page. Uh chair of the design review panel, Jennifer Mard, will be leading our discussion this afternoon. Jennifer, you may begin the meeting when you're ready. >> Thanks, Edward. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome. Edward, can you please confirm that this session is being recorded? >> Yes, we are recording. >> And are there any changes to the agenda today? >> Uh just that uh Olga is not in attendance. >> Uhhuh. Okay. Um, are there any declarations of interest? Uh, any panel members in attendance must declare any conflicts of interest. I'll take silence as a >> as a confirmation of no conflicts. Okay. On the agenda today is the review of 18 to 20, 22 to 24, and 30 King Street East and four Houston Street South. The lead planner on the file is Joseph San Severino. Development planner Abdullah Pasha is standing by in this meeting today. And for Joseph uh if he'll be able to answer any policy questions. Edward Winter, the urban designer at the city of Hamilton, will make a brief presentation. Uh go ahead, Edward. And we're ready for your five minute presentation. I think you're on mute there, Edward. >> All right. Thank you everyone for attending. Our proposed development is here shown in the blue uh rectangle with the yellow star at the corner of Houston Street South and King Street and the Gore Park. Uh the proposed development is a phase one of two phases consisting of a 12-story mixeduse building with 159 units and approximately 524 square meters of ground floor commercial space. Residential units are split between studio, onebedroom, two-bedroom, and three-bedroom units. Uh noting that an existing 10-story building on the corner of Houston and King will receive a two-story addition uh to align with the new construction component. Building setbacks feature prominently at the seventh uh I think sixth story as well as the 11th and 12th stories uh and that sorry just the phase two uh uh section is shown in the orange dash box directly but adjacent. All right. So, here we have the subject site. This is looking from Houston Street in King on uh south southwest. Uh and then we see the vacant site right now. Uh for those that aren't familiar with the recent history, uh there was previously some buildings in between and the street wall of generally four stories. Uh and that's showing heritage context and uh what will be more clear when we see the massing uh which may otherwise look unusual. All right. So here's a view looking along the Gore Park uh looking in the direction uh west along and the proposed subject site on the left. Okay, apologies, my screen is lagging a bit. Uh, this is now looking north across the park uh from the subject site showing the fountain in Gore Park uh and some new construction on the right and further back in the center. This is the view east uh westward uh from Houston Street to James Street along the alley on the southern part of uh phase 1. Uh the building on the right is the 10-story uh existing building that will be retained. Okay, here's a view looking north on Houston Street showing some again the new construction um and the existing uh along the north side of King Street and Gore Park. On the left, conceptual site plan showing the sixth floor roof terrace and then the new new proposed 12story uh on the south portion of this uh property. Uh and then that connection to Gore Park on the north and the alleyway on the south. Showing some renderings. This is looking south from above Gore Park and again showing only phase one. Okay. There was a formal consultation held May of this year. Uh staff noted that the low-rise 2 designation in downtown Hamilton secondary plan permits six stories, but that heights up to 12 stories can be permitted uh if it is demonstrated that the development is compatible with the surrounding streetscape and existing buildings. And the applicant would be required to demonstrate that the development is sympathetic to the heritage character of the Gore. Uh we did have some additional comments from the cultural heritage staff regarding the cultural heritage impact assessment document. Uh and looking for more information on the salvage materials uh from those previously existing buildings. Um noting that the there was mention of salvage materials but not information on the quantity uh and how those might be integrated into the development proposal. And then some of the salvage materials uh were cornises, brackets, uh masonry flowers and transom stones. Um, I think another uh, pardon me comment from cultural staff was that further information of the proposed exterior was was being requested uh, and if there was going to be the use of EHS uh, as it was not clear through the the Chia on the material selections. Overall, the cultural heritage staff noted that CHIO was written in a manner that followed the city's guidelines, but cultural staff will be asking for uh some revisions and additional information for future planning applications. And some of those suggestions were the integration of salvage materials into the proposed facades, not only as an interior comment commemorative strategy. um additional details on the leg legibility of the commemoration strategy from King Street East uh into the lobby and um integration of salvage masonry into the proposed facades uh and in discussion on ETH's detailing for the podium for today. Our areas of discussion uh will be the following. How will the proposed development align with the general character and built form of the surrounding area? How does the variation in proposed heights in relation to the existing buildings contribute to the area? Will the proposed height of the development impact the Gore feature sorry Gore park feature? What materials are being utilized and what facade work will be conducted to better align the proposed development with the surrounding heritage landscape? And will the proposed massing encourage a more pedestrianoriented and walkable streetscape? And these questions should be geared around the following topics of building massing, cultural heritage, the pedestrian public realm, and overall impact to Gore Park. And that will complete the staff presentation. Thank you, Edward. We're now ready for the consultant to provide their uh presentation and please keep this presentation to 10 minutes. Thank you. One second to share my screen. Everyone see that? Great. Hey, good afternoon and thank you to the panel members and staff for your time today. My name is Khloe Simpson. I'm a planner at Landwise and I'm joined today by Shem from Kn Architects in Canada, a heritage planner with WSP. Our clients are also on the call and available for questions. Um I'll begin with just a brief overview of the site context. Thank you Edward for um your introduction. Um, and then I'll hand it over to Shem and Cana to discuss the design and um, some compatibility considerations. So again, Edward provided a great description um, of the site, so I won't repeat that information. Uh, but I did just want to draw attention to the photos in the middle of this slide showing the buildings that did unfortunately collapse last year. Um, the proposed design really intends to incorporate some of the select heritage features from those buildings which Kenica and Shem will discuss in more detail. The site is within walking distance of daily service and commercial needs as well as several open spaces including Core Park immediately adjacent to the site. Uh, it's also highly accessible by transit and it's just steps away from the future LRT line. As you can see on the map, downtown is really characterized by a strong street wall and the new building um as you could see um there's a gap in the site right now. And so this new building will help to fill that significant gap in the streetscape and will contribute to the downtown environment which is already defined by a range of building heights and architectural styles. In terms of policy, the site is designated and zoned downtown mixed use and it's intended to support a vibrant pedestrian focused environment. The proposed 12-story building will require some relief from the zoning bylaw, but the official plan does contemplate heights of up to 12 stories where it can compatibility can be demonstrated. In our view, the design approach is consistent with the policies for a few reasons. First, it reinforces the street wall and introduces active commercial uses at grade. Second, it complements the heritage character of the Gore through its massing and material pallet. Third, it incorporates stepbacks to mitigate wind and shadow impacts and maintain pedestrian comfort. Project is also exploring opportunities for affordable housing which would further support the city's housing and intensification objectives. I'll now pass it on to Shem. >> Yep. Thank you, Chloe. Yep. So, just a little bit of quick uh history here. The development initially started off as just the infill portion of Long King due the loss of the heritage buildings. Um since uh then the client has decided to include the for Houston property as part of the development. So therefore there are actually two connected components to this project. Uh the vacant 10-story office building at for Houston that will be converted to the residential use uh and the mixed and uh retail which makes it mixed use and it'll be extended by two stories in height. The second will be the adjoining infill building along uh King Street and that will share also key circulation u components uh from the built from the four Houston property. Uh when designing there's designing this uh this development uh there was very deliberate attention to the alignment of the core park fountain which you'll later see and reflected in the floor plans and the renderings. Um as well as uh the elevations we had uh a cascading glass feature that helps delineate the building, break it up into smaller elements. Uh the masking before you is a result of several discussions with the city. Uh yes, we did have a formal consultation. We also had some additional meetings in between. Uh we have carefully masked the info portion to respect the existing core park uh to limit shadow impact. We've introduced stepbacks on the fifth, 6th, 10th, and 11th floors. Uh as a result uh the following plans uh will show you uh that we'll be showing you uh the two components uh how they operate as one development including the amenity spaces on the ground six and 12 floors. Next slide please. Uh starting with the uh level of underground which accommodates parking, bicycle storage lockers, a pet run additional launch facility. The info component connects to the existing elevator staircase at Fort Houston reducing the need for duplicate vertical circulation. Next slide. The ground floor plan uh separates public facing uh public facing spaces from the building operations. The retail residential entrances occupy the King Street frontage in the Houston street frontages accordingly while the loading waste moving and mail functions are consolidated along the rear alley connecting Houston and James Street uh through the rear. The existing retail unit at the corner of King and Houston is thus maintained. Next slide. Uh this is the enlarged plan that clarifies the circulation strategy. Pedestrian entrances address the public streets while services, vehicles and backup house functions continue to use the rear alley for access. Next slide. This is the essentially the fifth floor plan which is representative of the lower uh residential levels. It shows the shared connection to for Houston. The coreworking spaces are provided. The residential suites positioned along the exterior edge so that the internal parking podium areas are screened from view uh at core park. The sixth floor contains the main indoor and outdoor amenity program including private dining, uh, a sauna, gyms, games rooms, party rooms, etc. Uh, these spaces connect directly to the outdoor pool, terrace, barbecue, and outdoor lounge areas. The seventh and uh 12th floors essentially are uh smaller full plates to create a series of terraces. These levels accommodate private patios, shared amenity space, and upper level residential program while giving the building a clearly defined top and stepping. Um, this is the north elevation which is facing Gore Park. Uh, it is organized into distinct readable parts. A masonry base with punch windows, a central glazed spine marking the main entrance and amenity zone, and a lighter glazed cap beneath the dark roof overhang. Secondary entrances serve the individual commercial units at Fort Houston. Uh the reclined envelope improves energy efficiency while the inset glazed balconies establish a consistent window rhythm across the uh converted building. The podium's rhythm is continued and wraps around the corner of Houston into the alleyway. The material pallet was selected in reference to surrounding context. primarily limestone uh clay brick with pre-cast accents and dark metal uh accents are present within the the core park area. The rear which is a south elevation carries the same window proportions and key finishes around the building while integrating the loading waste and service functions mentioned before and they are accessed from the alleyway uh as they are currently uh used today. Next slide please. Uh along Houston Street, the elevation continues the transition between the converted office building and the new infill component at King uh through a consistent window rhythm and a shared upper story treatment. Uh the royal can to the left uh or straight to the right the image provides a local reference for treatment of punch openings and buildings top and material selection. Uh as an example, next slide. This building elevation shows essentially how the residential floors in many levels and terraces are stepped and terrace back towards the south. again uh accommodating shadow impact and transition. And this rendering uh view is from Gore Park which shows a converted building and the infill uh as a read as a coordinated composition with transparent ground floor spaces defined entrance zones and a lighter upper portion. This rendering is from the corner of King and Houston. The rendering shows the entrance hierarchy, the retained corner re uh retail unit. the the relationship between the two street facing elevations and essentially this is the wider context view uh makes the project and program visible. As you can see the pool, terrace, the shared amenity areas occupy the sixth floor with additional terraces at the upper levels of both floor uh for Houston and the infield building. Okay. And this is essentially a time sequence shadow study uh that confirms the proposal creates limited incremental shadow on G park. The shadow study considers uh the as of rate neighboring properties within the context of the model. This provides the technical evidence for the massing appro u approach uh introduced earlier. Okay. And I'll turn that over to Canica. >> Thanks Sean. Um I'll be speaking for on the heritage impact assessment findings today. Uh if from a heritage perspective, the property uh development site occupies a prominent location adjacent to Gore Park cultural heritage landscape and is located in East King's Street East cultural heritage landscape as well as the historic Beasley neighborhood. The site also formed uh part of a commercial streetscape framing Gore Park and contained several 19th century commercial buildings uh which is also mentioned by Chloe at the beginning of the presentation. The CHIA that is the cultural heritage impact assessment found that no heritage attributes remain for the former buildings along King Street East as they were previously demolished. The proposal retains and adaptively reuses the listed heritage property at four Houston Street South, maintaining its historic relationship with King Street East as well as uh Gore Park and further reinforcing its corner position through the new podium design. As a result, no direct adverse impacts were identified to these resources. As you can see on this uh slide by the north elevation from a design compatibility perspective, the podium responds to the historic streetscape through basin compatible materials as well as the vertical facade articulation and uh the active retail storefront that's proposed at the main grade and as well as a scale that reflects more sort of the traditional commercial frontage pattern that we saw from the 1870s and early uh 20th century historic fabric. The upper stories are also set back which was again mentioned by Shem earlier which allows for additional height while maintaining a pedestrian scaled experience um and reducing visual dominance from the public realm. Next slide please. Uh while much of the heritage building fabric on the site has already been lost, the Chia recommends a commemoration strategy to acknowledge the site's history and its contribution to the Gore Park area. And as uh you can see on this slide, we are looking at uh interpretation opportunities uh within the ground floor lobby with uh which will be in a publicly accessible space and as well as uh the intent is to place it along the pedestrian areas where visitors can engage with the history of the site. So the focus would not just be on uh explaining the history of this particular site but also the uh entire downtown block and its commercial evolution and uh where feasible we would be looking at the salvaged masonry uh from the demolished heritage buildings and incorporate them into the final uh interpretation program. And the other commemoration strategy that is being looked at and incorporated in the proposed design is that we have deliberately aligned the Gore Park fountain and uh the central axis with the main entry along King Street East for the proposed development. And overall uh the proposal is anticipated to have a positive impact on the surrounding heritage context by reducing uh I'm sorry by restoring the build form to waken lands and reinforcing the King Street uh east street wall which which would support a walkable mixeduse environment and uh also maintain the site's historic relationship within Gore Park. Thank you. >> Thank you Kica. Um, and then finally, we just wanted to talk about another compatibility component with the visual impact assessment. This was requested by staff to study views of the escarment from two different observation points. One was from King Street at James Street, and the other is King Street and Houston Street. Um, and as you can see here, there's before and after views of the site from these two observation points. Um, and you can see the proposed development doesn't obstruct any important viewsheds to the escarment. And that's all for our presentation. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Uh at this time, we provide an opportunity for each of the panel members to seek clarification on any points that may require further explanation from your team. Please hold comments for now. Uh questions only, please. And we will start with Shotti. I think you're on mute there, Shotti. >> Well, today is not my day. So, uh, so um I was thanking everyone for the presentation. Um so I have two questions right now and one is that you touched on um regarding the uh heritage uh kika the um the heritage salvage um items. So and you said that it will be in a publicly accessible place. Um I see it inside the lobby. Can you just clarify if it's going to just be visible from the window from the sidewalk or is an area where people can walk through? >> Yeah, thank you for the question. This uh from my understanding this would be publicly accessible because it is the lobby at the at the main grade level and uh we've strategically we're looking to place it next to the window along King Street East facade so that whoever is passing by along that pedestrian walkway um they are also able to see and it's still we're still formalizing in terms of what that interpretation panel would look like but the idea that we're looking or exploring right now is there would be a panel which would be overhung from the ceiling. And we are also looking at opportunities to include the salvaged masonry which would be kind of at a display underneath that. And that panel can have the timeline or the commercial evolution of the site as well as the downtown Hamilton block. And the text and the imagery can be on both sides of that panel. So it's going to be visible from to somebody who's actually outside and somebody who's also in the lobby in the waiting area. So that's kind of the preliminary uh approach that we are looking at and exploring right now. >> Thank you. Um so the next question might be for Shm I I think uh as the architect um can you just like um tell us a little bit about why that street wall the fivetory street wall um facing Gore how was that established that height >> yes uh definitely so that street was essentially established uh first through a massing study about the shadow impact on Gore Um it did introduce a small step on the fifth floor which we actually found to be somewhat advantageous because we were able to step back that last uh fifth floor essentially transitioning to the before transitioning to the sixth. Um when you when you reference the original buildings there was one one of the buildings did have a set of dormers that did also step back. So we thought, you know, this is a great opportunity to kind of to play with play off that step back and and and use that as also a way to uh then create a datam at the fourth floor, which then references the pre the other previous buildings that were there as well. So it's a bit of a hybrid, I think, between uh a couple of strategies, but um it it certainly uh is a product of of obviously of of shadow impact, but we did manage to utilize it in a way to to help establish a a couple of uh datams that were uh uh part of the existing buildings that collapsed. >> Thank you. That's it for me. >> Thanks, Shotty. Eric, do you have any questions? >> Uh no questions of clarification. >> Okay, Eric. Thanks, Graham. >> Same for me. No questions. Thank you. >> Okay, Dennis, do you have any questions? No, no further questions. Thanks. >> Okay, I have a few. Um, uh, um, whoever's sharing their screen, could you go to the floor plans, please? Um, maybe level two and one. Yeah, level two. >> This is level two. Essentially the fifth floor to uh second, third, fourth and fifth are essentially the same except see except okay >> there is there is a cutout in the second floor for a double height lobby. >> We do have the second floor at the very end of the >> it actually this will work then just fine because my my question will is here too. So from level two to five the the pink units on the left on the new building uh say three bed student. Could somebody explain to me what that use is? Is this a student residence or um hotel or or how does that work? >> Uh essentially my understanding that the way they would be used that each uh let's say bedroom would be rented separately to students and they would share the kitchen living uh areas as common element for that for as common spaces. >> I can step in here a little bit as well. Um the the intent for this property was to provide some some larger suites that are typically provided for uh that are typically provided in newer developments. It was just a way for us to develop um suites that were a little bit larger, but some that were more designed for more family use and others that could be designed for um for some that could be geared more to to students. >> We we wanted to make sure that the three-bedroom um units we were allocating that there were some that definitely accommodated for families. Absolutely. And and I applaud that. I I think we need to um provide bigger units than than maybe we have in the last uh decades or so, especially in Toronto. Um u it it's just the combination of use that I would that I found curious. You know, is this a student residence or is it or is it um rental accommodation? And I guess it would would fall into more this it's all rental, is it not? >> It's all rental and an all mix. In our last project, >> um we have some three-bedroom suites that are just over 1,000 square feet. And our our big thing was, um we do have a mix of students and families there. Um but to be better suited for a family, I think they need a little bit more than 1,000 square feet. So that's why throughout here you'll see some units that are 1100,200 and would be more of a target for the leasing team to put families in those units. >> I see. Okay. >> Just uh I mean just from a land use perspective and Dan please correct me if I'm wrong, but this these ones that are labeled as student are still it's a res it's still residential. It's still treated as a normal residential unit. It's just that the layout >> correct. they would all be leased the the same way and we're not precluding anybody else from from being in there. It was just a way for us to to delineate between some u design styles for the three bedrooms that we're offering. >> And under the building code, it's a it's a residential unit. >> Correct. >> Okay. Thank you for that. Um uh in the rendering uh of the uh the aerial rendering of of the outdoor view uh there's a you know pretty great looking pool that that we see um on that terrace and I'm wondering how that works because there's a you do have a pool mechanical room I think below it but um I'm wondering how that works structurally or even uh in section to accomodate a pool there. >> Yeah. So, essentially the pool sits between two grid lines. There's structure on either side and the deep end essentially is sunken in um the deep end I mean by not 10 ft deep end. It's a deeper portion which is I'd say four to five feet and underneath that you have a mechanical room. So, uh there is no suite underneath that portion and that's where we accommodate that pool. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. It just looks so thin especially in this rendering. But um um and one final question um what sustainability measures are you thinking about currently and or what do you have to do to meet building code? >> So right now we're looking at um few different options. um one right now we're evaluating a geothermal system and positioning this project for um some of the CHC programs. >> Great. >> Um those are going to require us to to score a certain amount of energy efficiency points um somewhere I think in the ballpark of um better than uh 40% better than the um than the current 2020 NECB. Um so we're evaluating that compared to potentially using the district energy system and with Hamilton. >> Okay. >> Also just want to add that um we are replatting the 10-story office building which would be a better performing building envelope as well as from a sustainability in terms of carbon we are reusing the existing structure infrastru and infrastructure of that building to help facilitate the new portion. So I think there there's quite a bit of um carbon saving in that case. Yeah, that's a great story. Um, okay, I think that's all for questions now. Um, we'll now move over to panelist comments. Um, and provide an opportunity for each panelist to write their feedback. So, we'll begin again with Shotti. >> Okay. Thank you, Jennifer. So um overall um I think um the massing is really well studied. The variation in height and stepbacks helps break down the scale of the development and creates a more interesting building form. I also appreciate um the variation in materiality um across different components and the expression the architectural uh expression um to avoid having a like a continuous large mass. This is a big site. Um and I'm comfortable with the overall 12 story height. um and you've provided enough information and studies to show that um it doesn't impact the context in any adverse way. Um especially that substantial upper story setback and that pool that I would love to be in it in summertime. Uh looking over the park. Um really well thought. Um um I as I said like I really appreciate the architecture and the massing and especially as um humans and not birds at grade having that um fine grade rhythm along King Street which is reflective of what was there once upon a time. Um that said I if I may I'm gonna just put forward one thought uh for you to consider um which is a kind of a philosophical question but anyways in reality architects always deal with it. So um it's like the question is whether the historic rhythm that you are reflecting here could be um maintained while allowing some of the architectural expression to be more contemporary like the rhythm came from through the as you're showing it the proportion of the windows bay entrances and the material change. Um but it's again just a thought to be considered if the architecture expression can be a little more contemporary. Um and one last point um I I really applaud you for alignment of the principal entrance with the core. I personally think it's a the Gore park fountain. I should say it's it's very strong urban design gesture. Um but also I wonder if um You could work with the city if city is um uh okay with it to work with you to reflect that access on the pavement also at grade again as pedestrians people really experience a building mostly at grade for that reason if that can be emphasized uh with pavement and I let some of my uh co- panelists here who are landscape architect to if they want to speak to that but from an urban standpoint of you. I think that will make an important um impact. Um that's it for me. Thank you. >> Thanks, Shotti. Over to you, Eric. >> Thanks, Jennifer. Uh thanks for the presentation. Appreciate the opportunity to comment. Uh my my comments are going to be fast. U generally very positive. really appreciate um a few things like not providing vehicular access onto King Street and working with other parts of the property. That's fantastic because King is a great pedestrian street through that stretch. Um really love the retention of the existing office building and looking at doing the conversion and and uh into residential. I really appreciate, you know, that's a good way to provide housing going forward for the municipality. Um, love the Gore Park uh fountain lining up. Uh, further to Shid's comments, I say like get that tree pit out of there, get that fire hydrant out of there and work with the municipality to to ensure you have that direct access without impediment. Um, so I'd be hoping that the developer might step up and cover that cost to do that because of the benefits to you. Um, beyond that, uh, I really just want to see how, uh, you'll incorporate elements of the the previous building into, um, into the new building, whether it's design, whether it's, uh, pieces, or otherwise. Uh, so I I feel like you just have a little more to do with the Chia and just figuring that out. And I understand you're still fairly early in this process, but uh generally love to see what's happening here and you know being such an important spot in the city uh that you're looking at it from a a very good perspective. Thank you. >> Thanks Eric. Over to you Graeme >> Jennifer. Thank you for the presentation everyone. Um, I'm not going to have too many comments and yeah, I'm just going to probably just extend a little bit more on what Chhatty started when Eric said just on that on that front edge. First, I want to say the um nice job on the lots of rooftop amenities and keeping those views towards the park. Um, that's a great advantage to take uh and keep with for that frontage. I'll just say yeah, I think there's an opportunity to um just adjust the paving patterns a little bit, adjust the tree placements a little bit. I think this is all stuff that can go um as you get into finer design through the SPA process um to do that. Um I think there's definitely opportunity staying within the city's um urban braille guidelines and also what's in the park already, but I think it could just be adjusted a little bit more to really strengthen that um that alignment with the park. Um, so I think it's it's worth taking a look at that and um maybe the city won't like it, but push the city a little bit and uh and say, "Yeah, we want to move this and it'll be better for the park. It'll be better for the building." But overall, very nice. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um over to you, Dennis. >> Thanks very much and thank you for the presentation. A little bit of repeat here, but um I think overall there's a lot of great things about the scheme, how the massing reflects both the history of the built form, but also uh strategically delivers on not shadowing Gore Park. So kudos on on that front. Um it does beg the question for me about the relationship to phase 2 and the the continuous 12story um L, if you will. Um how does that work with future plans? It would be just great to see how together as a superb block um and and an active city building how that all works together. But I I think obviously the the massing currently as it stands works very well. Um I would have hoped the elevation I mean there's a lot of discussion around the the honoring the past and I would have hoped the elevation could have expressed somehow in a contemporary way the the narrow and vertical commercial variation if you will somehow um in a contemporary language. but um somewhat a bit more of a a a kind of reference to that. Um such a big history of of uh of Hamilton along this frontage. So although I do appreciate there are current attempts uh it just seems a little bit too uniform across across the base in my opinion. But that's I think a kind of minor comment. Um, this leads to my another question I have about the Acurate relationship and the actual relationship which I love to to Gore Park that that as a design move is is very strong. Um, but my question is how can we unlock more active at grade uses along the street and would would it help to kind of shift the lobby access more towards the core and try to release some of the the lobby square footage that you have currently? uh to to more active retail uses or commercial uses. So, it just seems right now that the lobby space seems quite generous and that might be part of the the the current programming strategy you have, but does seem like it's a substantial part of the footprint at grade. So, perhaps looking at how to activate the grade along the entire length of Queen Street would be would be commendable. And along that uh that vein, I have some questions about the the kind of material relationship uh between the built form, street wall, the public space. This is such a unique condition at street level. Like pedestrians, it's very tactile. You're rubbing up against it. I would like to ensure that you know the the material use is of the highest quality and of a of a certainly of a heritage richness if you will not necessarily in style but in in uh material execution there would be would be great along along King Street and to that note it would just be great to understand more a bit more about the the the heritage artifacts and the inventory that's at hand and how that's being used and what what your strategy is because this will only add to the story and making this a pretty high quality uh development. So, thank you very much. >> Thanks, Dennis. I'll uh summarize here and add a few comments. Um and I I concur with everything that my fellow panelists have have said already. I I this is such an important site for Hamilton, you know, uh um and I applaud your efforts to bring back the scale and materiality and fine grain nature of the heritage buildings that were lost. I I think if done really really well, it will be also an improvement to the the office conversion building because uh I think a lot will be added to to bring that uh character and history back to to this site. Um uh and I think what you're hearing from a few of us is the struggle between, you know, a historicist rebuilding or a contemporary expression. And I I think I I agree with the strategy for the historic uh um aesthetic avenue. Uh it has to be done really really well. uh and as Shotti said that we experience a lot of that at grade and in the very uh lower floors in wind domians in in uh stone copings in cornice material. Uh so I we went through your uh elevations to look at what materials were placed where. There was nothing on the cornnesses. I think uh especially at grade those cornises have to be uh pre-cast or or stone. Like there's a level of quality here that I think uh is demanded because of this is such an important site. Um, and and equally I I like the fact that you're you're using the stone material in a lot of places and and brick uh in the lower portion with the red brick. That's great. Uh I would encourage you to use a lot less ephus and more pre-cut, you know, pre-cast brick panels can be affordable and and mass-produced and and um put in place quickly. So, I I know there's a fine line on on managing budget, but I think this site demands a special attention to quality of materials. I agree with what's been said about the massing. I think it's really well done in in um in addressing the scale of the park and the sidewalk uh and addressing the historical uh character of the of the whole precinct. Um well done in the concealing of the parking levels uh that the the street edges are active and uh vehicular uh circulation is managed on the laneway and the and the parking levels are nicely concealed. So that's really well done. Um uh I concur with some comments that have been said earlier about uh inventory of salvaged materials. Um the Chia report doesn't really itemize what or how much is there and and what or how much you'll be using. I think in the next steps of approvals with the city and I don't we don't have any uh um influence on what they will require of you but I I would suggest that um some renderings of exactly how you're going to use those pieces in inside and and their visibility from from the street and from inside. I I think there could be a more extensive use of those historic materials perhaps in the fireplace or or in the reception desk in the lobby. I I think they can be meaningfully used and not just in museum display cases. Um so I think a followup with City of Hamilton Heritage's staff is probably necessary given the importance of the site. Um, uh, one thing I I was wondering about the the black metal cornice that is in the more modern pieces set back does feel a touch too visually heavy. Uh, the the the shaped cornises in the in the, you know, historic molding shape are can be delicately done and they reflect shadow and light really well. But that the black one up uh above it seems to be a bit too flat and a bit too visually heavy. And and I think if if the development sort of eased into some lightness in color, a little more lightness against the sky, it would be uh might be even better. Um and I I look forward to seeing phase two. I I think um it's an important block and and getting the synergy between phase one and phase two would uh would be great for us to see in an upcoming meeting. So that uh concludes my comments. We now offer uh an opportunity for the applicant to respond to any of these comments or ask us any questions. So open the floor to you or can you >> Yeah, if you want to go first maybe if you have anything. >> Sure. Uh thank you. Thank you for all your comments. Um and I appreciate uh that there's the interest into the commemoration strategy in terms of the not just the museum display because we we are trying to explore that opportunity uh ourselves. So as next steps definitely we would be connecting with Ken and the heritage staff and uh uh just understanding in terms of like the expectations as well as u how best we can sort of narrate the story while like you said and like not keeping it uh as a museum piece. So uh we definitely be working on that as next steps. Thank you. >> Thanks. U maybe Chloe I can touch on a couple um themes that were were mentioned in the question period there. Um one is uh phase two we uh we have been developing phase two in the context of this phase and uh we do have a I'm say a fairly detailed plan but we do have the interaction between the two phases and we we kind of can keeping up with phase two to help uh dovetail into this into this initial phase. So that that is something that we are very cognizant of as we're working through the project. Uh the other item is the materiality. Uh certainly we we absolutely acknowledge the the importance of the of this development in and its context within Gore and uh we are definitely looking at using higherend material finishes especially around uh the more tactile areas at at grade the podium. uh we are looking at essentially or exploring uh limestone uh pre-cast elements uh more authentic materials in those first four to five stories so that it it does truly speak to what is uh what was there historically at least at once upon time as as mentioned before. So um and then the last one I um we're all we're going to be continuing to refining this through site. I I do appreciate the comments obviously with uh the dark uh darker banding uh those admittedly are some pieces that still have to get a little bit more uh love and resolution but uh it's certainly something we have on our radar. Thank you. Not much from a planning side, but I do appreciate the comments on the massing and um the effort that was made to get it to um address those impacts on core park and to get it to um the no net new shadow. And uh yeah, we look forward to looking at some of your comments and through the site plan process. I don't know if Dan you had any questions. here. No. Um, I'm good. >> Great. >> Okay. Thanks everyone. Thanks for a great application. Uh, and uh, we'll call this meeting adjourned. >> Thank you, Jennifer. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.