Hamilton's Planning Committee Addresses Heritage Designation, School Conversion, and Development Projects

Hamilton's planning committee focused on three main files: whether to designate the M-wing at the former Hamilton Maternity Hospital site under the Ontario Heritage Act, a deferred rezoning application to convert the former Lloyd George school at 360 Beach Road into a private school, and a set of planning policy and development items including a 102-unit townhouse proposal in Stoney Creek, secondary plan priorities, commercial district grants, and affordable housing fee exemptions.

Topics Discussed

1. HOSPITAL M-WING HERITAGE DESIGNATION

Committee considered whether to designate the M-wing at the hospital site under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act. Hamilton Health Sciences argued against designation and said, "As the oldest building on the Dravinsky Hospital campus, it is impossible to bring it up to modern infection control, CSA, and accessibility standards to provide patient care," according to Kelly Campbell.

Councillors in support of designation stressed that designation would preserve council oversight rather than automatically block future changes. Councillor Craig Cassar said, "Heritage designation is not in and of itself a blunt instrument. It's not as if when we designate a property that that's it. This property is protected permanently forever and no one can do anything over there and everyone's prevented from doing things." He also said designation matters because "it allows the municipality to manage change."

Councillor Alex Wilson framed the decision as whether future changes should remain public: "The question remains whether we want that future to be a public conversation or we want to delegate that authority to staff through this."

2. 360 BEACH ROAD PRIVATE SCHOOL APPLICATION

Committee held a public meeting on an application to convert the former Lloyd George school at 360 Beach Road into a private school. Staff recommended against the application on compatibility and safety grounds. A staff member said studies submitted with the application showed air contamination concerns and that "on days when contamination is particularly bad, people do not go outside," adding that staff were "not able to provide a safe outdoor play area for the educational facility."

Planning staff's recommendation stated: "The proposal cannot be supported as it has not demonstrated that the proposed sensitive land use avoids or where avoidance is not possible minimizes and mitigates any potential adverse impacts from odor, noise, air quality, and other contaminants and results in potential impacts on the long-term viability of major facilities," according to Mark Tadeson.

The applicant proposed mitigation measures including on-site pollution monitoring. One speaker said the school would install "an on-site pollution monitoring station" and make an app available so parents could decide whether children should stay home or indoors during high-pollution events.

Committee voted to keep the public meeting open and defer consideration until Sept. 1. Councillor Tammy Hwang said, "It is my hope that committee will uh take this as a motion to actually keep the public meeting open and also defer consideration of the report until the next planning cycle which will happen on uh September 1."

3. SECONDARY PLANS WORK PROGRAM

Staff presented an updated secondary plan work program. Staff said secondary plans are one planning tool among several and should be used selectively. Stacy Kursikoski told committee, "It is important to recognize that while secondary plans are a valuable planning tool, they are not the only way to guide growth and development and they are not appropriate in every area of the city. Depending on the context, other planning tools may be more suitable."

Staff also said the work program would remain flexible. In presenting the report, staff said priority areas were identified as "short to midterm projects" and that the city could adjust the program based on council direction and other stakeholder input.

4. STONEY CREEK TOWNHOUSE DEVELOPMENT

Committee considered applications for 219 and part of 235 Glover Road and 869, 873 and 877 Highway 8 for a 102-unit townhouse development. Planner Drew Meta described the proposal as "57 three-story block townhouse units, 32 three-story back-to-back townhouse units, and 13 three-story dual fronting townhouse units" for "a total of 102 dwelling units."

Discussion focused on drainage, stormwater management and impacts on nearby residents. Councillor Esther Pauls said, "I'd love to be able to say, you know, let's take their word for it, but I'd rather be shown the details of how it works."

Binu Korea, director of growth management and chief development engineer, said the required stormwater facility would be a dry pond: "Most of the time the water is actually going to be dry … in major storm events this stormwater management pond is going to contain 2 year to 100 years storm within the pond."

Councillor Rob Cooper also sought confirmation on land acquisition, asking, "The city's not going to go in and take this land from the property owner. Could you confirm that?"

5. GRANTS AND FEE EXEMPTIONS

Committee approved updates to the city's commercial district improvement programs and affordable housing planning fee exemptions.

On the grant programs, Phil Caldwell, manager of commercial districts and small business, said, "As a matter of practice, we do these five-year reviews to ensure the programs are aligned with market conditions and council priorities." He added that council can amend the programs mid-cycle if priorities change.

Committee also approved expanded planning fee exemptions for charitable and nonprofit affordable housing projects. Staff said the report's purpose was "to update and expand the current process for exempting planning application fees as approved by council in 2016." Council increased the annual budget for the program from $150,000 to $450,000 and asked staff to report back in the first quarter of 2029.

Motions

• Heritage designation of hospital M-wing / hospital property — Passed, 9-0
• Heritage designation of Ryerson United Church, 265 Wilson Street East — Passed, 9-0
• 360 Beach Road private school application: public meeting to remain open and consideration deferred until Sept. 1 — Passed, 10-0
• 1630 Main Street West and 69 Saunders Boulevard Ontario Land Tribunal appeal — Passed, unanimous
• Affordable housing planning fee exemptions — Passed, 9-0
• Commercial district improvement plan / revitalization grant program updates — Passed, 9-0
• Creative industries grant program changes for the Kenilworth corridor — Passed, 8-0
• Stoney Creek development item at Glover Road/Highway 8 — Passed, 9-0
• Motion to receive public submissions and close the public meeting on the Stoney Creek development item — Passed, 9-0

Attendees

Councillors identified in the meeting record as present included:

• Andrea Horwath
• Maureen Wilson
• Cameron Kroetsch
• Esther Pauls
• Tammy Hwang
• Nrinder Nann
• Brad Clark
• Ted McMeekin
• Craig Cassar
• Alex Wilson
• Rob Cooper
• Mark Tadeson
• Jeff Beattie
• Matt Francis