Comment 122628

By lyndalukasik (registered) | Posted March 20, 2018 at 11:35:30 in reply to Comment 122590

I agree that s37 is not the only answer here. But it is one tool in the toolbox that the city should be using! By establishing such huge areas of the downtown at thirty stories as of right, the city is throwing away any possibility of making effective use of s37. Check out how other municipalities (and believe me, lots of them are benefitting from s 37 in very effective ways) use s37. The City of Guelph has rules in its downtown secondary plan that make it clear that, in the 10 storey zone, if developers want to build to 12 storeys, they are expected to provide benefits to the community. The list is extensive - and includes support for social housing, for more parks, for buildings that conform with the city's Community Energy Plan, etc. Why would Hamilton throw away any negotiating leverage by simply painting most of the core in 30 storey as of right?

And, while the use of s37 in some municipalities has turned into a bit of a gong show (Toronto comes to mind) - that's not reason enough to dismiss it outright. Other municipalities have set out well-structured processes for applying s37 - City of Vaughan is a good example of this. The more innovative tools available for downtown redevelopment, the better! We need to push for our city to do better for the community.

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