Comment 88459

By jason (registered) | Posted May 08, 2013 at 22:54:34

A little bit of context.

Note the single family homes and low-density suburbia in these two images:

http://goo.gl/maps/lYn1r

http://www.lashgroup.ca/comingsoon.php

First one is Burlington. Second is Scarborough. Swimming pools, double driveways, nice backyards, robust real-estate values. Suburbia at it's finest.

Here are the development proposals for both sites:

Burlington: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost...

Scarborough: http://meliving.ca

I'm not saying we need to fill Hamilton with towers, BUT here we are haggling for years over 10 or 12 floors right downtown in the so-called "Ambitious City", while low-density suburbia from here to Scarborough understand the dire need to add density - high quality density, and fast.

How about everyone's favourite suburban whipping-boy....adding some huge towers a stones' throw from large, suburban sprawl tracts of thousands of homes, pools, yards, parks etc.....

http://torontosavvy.files.wordpress.com/...

I envision Hamilton developing a more pedestrian-scaled streetwall outside of the core as opposed to adding mega towers like Mississuaga or Scarborough. More like this along King/Main East; Upper James etc....

http://redcondominium.ca/images/home-img...

http://thumbs.trulia-cdn.com/pictures/th...

But downtown, we really do need to ease up a little and allow some quality high-rise development.

I realize, what's done is done in this particular Thistle Club site, but let's learn a lesson from this as we move forward.
Density is not bad. Bad density is bad. Neighbourhood associations and groups can have a great role in seeing the best development possible take shape in their neighbourhood.

Height is not our enemy. We need more people in Hamilton. Few areas in our city can handle taller buildings....downtown must be one of the spots we let out the leash a little and see more density take shape.

Comment edited by jason on 2013-05-08 22:54:51

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