A group of Waterdown neighbours said a loud and clear 'No way!' to a proposed development on Dundas St. E. at Hamilton city council this week.
On Tuesday morning, council heard 11 delegations from concerned neighbours who want the city to deny a zoning change that will allow an 18-unit townhouse complex to be put in at 173 and 177 Dundas St. E.
Developer Hawk Ridge Homes bought the properties at 173 and 177 Dundas St. E. in 2018, with the intention of demolishing the two single family homes and building an 18-unit townhome complex.
Hawk Ridge Homes is a development company based in Waterdown, said Gerry Tchisler of MHBC Planning, the company handling the planning stages of the project.
At city hall, neighbours listed a slew of issues with putting in a townhouse complex, from flooding to privacy to traffic issues. Some neighbours warned about the loss of mature trees, the blind hill at the nearby intersection of Dundas Street East and Riley Street, over-intensification in an area that is mostly single-family homes, and concerns about parking.
Delegations took more than an hour and neighbour Stephanie Card, who organized a good chunk of the pushback against the development, said the neighbourhood submitted 30 letters opposing the project.
Card herself wrote a 37-page rebuttal to the developer's proposal, and submitted it to the city along with photos of the site and the letters of opposition.
The company is asking the city to approve a zoning change to allow a higher density of homes to be built on the lands.
Hawk Ridge Homes would like to have eight, three-storey townhouses with rooftop outdoor space closer to Dundas Street East, and 10 two-story townhouses at the back of the property.
Council discussed how high the total retaining wall and fence will be, and the impact it will have on neighbours behind, which would likely result in a 12-foot tall barrier one resident said would impact her 43-year-old garden.
Hamilton city staff, however, support the housing development.
Staff recommend greenlighting Dundas St. E. development
City staff said the site “does not create negative impacts on the surrounding residential or public space” and that it would be an “efficient use of existing infrastructure along a major arterial road.”
The development would be close to a bus stop, the public library and a short walk from the Clappison’s Corners plazas, with stores, restaurants and other services.
Some city councillors at Tuesday’s planning meeting showed support for the project.
Ward 8 Coun. John-Paul Danko said he thinks neighbours shared valid concerns, but many of the issues they brought up have been addressed by the developer.
Issues like flooding and water flow, the city’s planning department said in a report, have been addressed by the developer. Water will be collected in a tank under the lot’s two metres of grading and will flow into a catchment basin on Dundas Street East.
Any dangers at the intersection of Riley Street and Dundas Street East, Danko said, are not the developer’s responsibility, and need to be addressed separately.
“We have to recognize our duty,” Danko said. “We can’t deny developments because we don’t like them.”
Ward 1 Coun. Maureen Wilson asked planning committee members and delegates to consider the city’s entire housing picture, and the desperate need for units.
“We have to navigate the intention between listening to residents about their own neighbourhoods and listening to residents who want more housing, a better economy and a place for their adult children to move,” Wilson said.
Ward 12 Coun. Craig Cassar sympathized with the neighbours, saying he also had a large development go in behind his home.
"Our neighbourhoods can't be frozen in amber," he said.
Ward 15 Coun. Ted McMeekin, whose ward the development will be in, championed the neighbours throughout the meeting.
“There are serious questions about your proposal,” he said to Tchisler, adding that the developer failed to meet with neighbours and hear them out, which he said resulted in the discussion happening at city hall instead.
Planner says site is a good place to intensify
Several neighbours delegating said they are not opposed to more housing, but believe an 18-unit townhouse complex will not fit in with the neighbourhood and will over intensify the area.
“We understand people have a right to be housed,” said neighbour Kim Parks-Hallmark, “but planning committees shouldn’t feel pressure to approve things that don’t make sense and aren’t wanted.”
Tchisler said the complex will be relatively small.
“It’s a good location for intensification, and what you see before you today is gentle intensification,” Tchisler said.
Danko asked Tchisler why the company didn’t try to fit in more units. Tchisler said it was out of respect for the neighbourhood.
After several hours of delegations and discussion, the planning committee decided to defer the final decision to Sept. 17, to give Hawk Ridge Homes time to host a public meeting with neighbours to hear out their issues and open a dialogue between them.
By pushing the decision to next month, Hawk Ridge Homes has the option to take its application to the Ontario Land Tribunal over the city’s failure to make a decision on approving the project. Tchisler was unable to say if the company will follow through with hosting a public meeting with neighbours in the next 30 days.
During the committee’s discussion on the development, several councillors were disappointed that Hawk Ridge Homes did not follow through with plans to hold a public meeting and left neighbours in the dark.
“I don’t really have much optimism that anything will change from the meeting, if they even agree to have it,” she said.
