A 17-storey building is now approved for construction beside the planning Nash Road stop of Hamilton’s B-Line light rail transit line, following the Ontario Land Tribunal rubberstamping a settlement between Hamilton City Council and LJM Developments for 651 Queenston Road.
“The Settlement Proposal results in a development that is appropriate, with a well designed built form, scale, height and massing. The Tribunal finds the proposed development represents good planning and is in the public interest.”
The building will contain 319 dwelling units, 30 studio-sized, 196 one-bedroom and one-bedroom with den units, 86 two-bedroom units, and seven (7) three-bedroom units. Four units will be at grade fronting onto Nash Road.
This represents a total net density of 971 units per hectare.
The unit tenure is planned to be a condominium.
The building will have 241 vehicle parking spaces and 264 long-term bicycle storage spaces.
417 square metres of commercial gross floor area is planned for the ground level.
A maximum height of 55 metres is permitted at the southeast front corner of the building, with only eight metres permitted in the northwest rear corner.
The OLT states the proposal is good planning, noting that it is located beside the LRT, within the urban area, and takes advantage of a vacant site.
“The Tribunal notes that the Settlement Proposal introduces a compact urban form on the subject property in a transit-supportive manner within a built-up area, along a planned priority transit corridor and a strategic growth area. This will assist the City in achieving its growth and intensification targets,” writes OLT Member Tee Fung Ng.
“This neighbourhood is intended to accommodate a major shift
from a traditionally auto-oriented corridor to mixed use and transit-oriented neighbourhood,” Ng continues. “The Settlement Proposal will assist in advancing the goals and objectives of the Centennial Neighbourhoods Secondary Plan by developing a vacant property into a transit-oriented development.”
A nearby resident who registered as a participant at the hearing expressed opposition to the site’s density and height.
The OLT considered the impact on neighbouring properties, writing:
“The proposed development has been designed with multiple stepbacks to mitigate any shadowing or overlook to adjacent properties, with no anticipated impacts to surrounding properties. The proposed tower portion of the building has been located at the
intersection of Nash Road North and Queenston Road, a gateway location at the intersection of two arterial roads. The proposed development features a mid-rise podium to minimize the impacts and to integrate with the neighbouring parcels. Respecting this
matter, the high-density land use proposed for the subject site is appropriately located within this neighbourhood. As the proposed development is located approximately 91 metres south of the nearest low-density use, there are no perceived impacts to the
nearby residential neighbourhood with respect to shadowing and overlook.”
This government has literally destroyed this city , Stoney Creek Queenston rd is literally un- drivable already with outrageous congestion and incompetence at stop light timing , so hey what’s another gigantic pile of garbage stuffed onto the corner, 300 more cars so in addition to the other ridiculous buildings recently built further destroying our neighborhoods and quality of life let’s say they’ve added 2000 vehicles to an over congested area and have done absolutely nothing to ease traffic or improve flow , our mayor and these builders should be forcibly removed from this city , get out of our town we dont need more ghettos and crime and poverty and congestion. The taxpayers are stuck paying and sitting in traffic every day for hrs due to this garbage already, so now u can sit another 15 minutes on yr commute,what’s wrong with this government, how clueless and incompetent can they be ?
The OLT ruling explains why this constitutes good planning – directly beside a light rail transit stop, using land within the existing urban boundary, and taking advantage of city servicing within the urban boundary.
Regarding “ghettos” and “crime and poverty.” Regardless of the socio-economic position of people, even if this were for those in lower-income brackets, housing is needed and this is a great location for housing.
Hamilton needs efficient tax revenue, this building will generate significantly more revenue than residents will use in services.
They are 100 car spaces short for this project , bottom line. ,!!!!!
More condos! Yay…….
We need more affordable housing.
As a long-term 35+years in this neighborhood I am fully supportive of this project moving forward. Given it’s former history this is a major improvement to the ghetto crime infested motel it’s replacing. That said it is on a major Transit hub and a minimum 20 to 30% inclusionary zoning too support affordable housing should have been applied to this project. When will this Council get serious about Affordable Housing? Another missed opportunity.