Skip to main content

PODcast at OMB

Dundas fight moves to OMB
Developer appeals move to block warehouse near canal

, The Hamilton Spectator,
DUNDAS (Aug 25, 2009)

Environmentalist Julia Kollek says the citizens' group Protect Our Dundas and several individuals will join Hamilton city council in fighting off an Ontario Municipal Board appeal aimed at winning approval for a self-storage warehouse almost beside the Desjardins Canal.

First Dundas Leasing Ltd., owned by J. Douglas Hammond of Ancaster, is appealing council's rejection of a rezoning application. Hammond is the former owner of the nearby Canadian Tire store.

Opponents say the two-hectare property on the northwest corner of King and Olympic Drive should become part of a proposed urban eco-park in the corridor between Cootes Paradise and the Niagara Escarpment.

Hammond says the land has already been covered with fill excavated for a city sewage storage tank and is zoned for restaurants and commercial recreational uses. The warehouse requires a change to industrial use.

The OMB will hold a pre-hearing to identify participants and issues at 10 a.m. Thursday in McMaster University's Downtown Centre at 50 Main St. E., Hamilton.

City planning staff recommended council approve Hammond's application, but councillors disagreed, so the city will have to use an outside planner to defend that position.

Protect Our Dundas has hired Toronto lawyer Eric Gillespie, who handled Joanna Chapman's private prosecution of former mayor Larry Di Ianni and several corporations for campaign donation violations.

Kollek says, "Several people have contacted us (Protect Our Dundas) who strongly feel the facility is proposed in the wrong place, that there are plenty of suitable brownfield sites available and that it would make an ugly entrance to Dundas (easily visible from Cootes Drive).

"We're expecting a number of citizens to attend Thursday, and there are a lot who can't make it who are writing letters seeking participant status. We will read out the letters on their behalf."

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

a vision for nature in Cootes

View the Eco-Park Document here Make Cootes national park, group urges TheSpec.com - Local - Make Cootes national park, group urges Create eco-park in urbanized area Eric McGuinness , The Hamilton Spectator (Jan 28, 2009) The idea of a Cootes Paradise National Park is being revived by local conservationists. But they say it is jeopardized by plans for a self-storage warehouse beside the Desjardins Canal at the east entrance to Dundas. They point to a new vision of an urban eco-park -- maybe a national park -- incorporating the Cootes marsh, drafted by Urban Strategies Inc., the firm responsible for McMaster University's campus master plan among other Hamilton projects. Joe Berridge, a partner who has helped reshape waterfronts in Toronto, New York and London, produced the concept document at the invitation of Ben Vanderbrug, retired general manager of the Hamilton Conservati

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

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 (