planning in principle

Ancaster Creek, pre-parking conditions at McMaster (C1965)

McMaster University Campus Master Plan . March 2002

7.3.11 Existing treed areas along the rail alignment, Cootes Drive, Ancaster Creek and adjacent to Westaway Road, will be preserved as much as possible as the West Campus becomes intensified.

7.3.12 A number of opportunities exist for campus development to contribute to enhancing the water temperature, water quality and fish habitat of Ancaster Creek. A continuous stream buffer with a minimum width of 30 metres will be provided between the stream bank and the parking lot edges. This will in certain cases involve cutting back the edges of existing parking lots. The University will work with community partners to naturalize the buffer with native trees and shrubs.

7.3.13 Development of West Campus should proceed on the basis of an appropriate, state of the art stormwater management plan that directs site-related stormwater run-off water into a system of wet ponds/wetlands. An appropriate location for such a system would be between the railway embankment and Cootes Drive, outside the 30 metre stream buffer, as illustrated in Figure 7-C

7.13.14 The University shall pursue opportunities to implement a variety of techniques to clean and cool water that runs off from surface parking lots before it reaches Ancaster Creek, including but not limited to: sand filters, to screen out and trap pollutants; oil and grit separators which remove sediment, screen debris and separate free oil from stormwater; and bio-retention areas, which are depressionalareas designed to mimic pollutant removal processes present in natural ecosystems. The West Campus vision indicated in Figure 7-C demonstrates how ditches planted with vegetation that prefers moist soils but can survive dry periods can be introduced in place of medians in surface parking lots, to collect, clean and cool run-off water.

7.3.15 The University should explore a variety of opportunities to implement environmental demonstration projects on West Campus, such as installing porous paving in surface parking lots to mitigate stormwater runoff.

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Binkley's Pond, gone for parking

Jacob Binkley (1806-67), great grandson of Marx [Binkley], built the handsome stone house that still stands at 54 Sanders Blvd at the head of a ravine. The house was completed in 1847 and named Lakelet Vale, as it had a little spring-fed lake at the rear. Binkley's Pond, as it was known, was used for skating, fishing, and good times. It is now the Zone 6 parking lot at McMaster University on the west side of Cootes Drive. Loreen Jerome, The Way We Were "The House that Jacob Built" Ainslie Wood/Westdale Community Association of Resident Homeowners Inc. (AWWCA) http://www.awwca.ca/articles/ Skater's on Binkley's Pond circa 1917, now a McMaster parking lot

Where did the water go? Art action in Lot M Parking

West Campus Eco-Art Project A walking activity and site activation on McMaster’s West Campus. West Campus Eco-Art Project is a project that incorporates creative walking activities and an artistic site activation connected with the West Campus Redesign Initiative at McMaster University. The initiative provides opportunities for connecting with nature through an on-line informational video, walking excursions and creative activities that deepen knowledge and experience with place in all its complexities (social history, citizen science, ecology and diversity). Focusing on the Coldwater creek valley on McMaster’s West Campus, participants will learn about the history and unique features of the area and will be invited to then engage with the site through observation, sketching and stencil-making. Stencils will be used to paint text and image on the parking lot asphalt to delineate a blue line that marks an historic water route. The project is supported by the McMaster Museum of Art (

McMaster's Parking Problem: Next Level

I'm sharing a recent article published in the Dundas Star News about McMaster's plan to build a - get this - $17-million dollar parking structure. Seventeen million. Yes, $17,000,000.00 That's a lot of money to provide temporary shelter for vehicles of people who choose to drive to campus. We will be following this closely. Here's the article. Cootes Drive six-storey McMaster University parking garage under review Variances or amendment to zoning bylaw expected to permit parking structure Craig Campbell, Dundas Star News, Friday, March 5, 2021 Zoning bylaw variances, or amendments, could be required for a planned six-storey, 567-space McMaster University parking garage west of Cootes Drive, and north of Thorndale Crescent. University spokesperson Michelle Donavon said the $17-million structure on parking lot K at Westaway Road will help ongoing efforts to re-naturalize parts of the west campus, by moving some surface parking into the structure. “These plans will increa

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