OLT Give Final Approval to Three Tall Buildings at 310 Frances Avenue in Stoney Creek – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

July 17, 2023
The decade-long zoning saga at 310 Frances Avenue in Stoney Creek came to a quiet end on Monday with the Ontario Land Tribunal approving a settlement agreement to allow three tall towers of 34, 37, and 44 storeys atop a mutual podium of 4 to 5 storeys.
The approval allows for 1,390 residential units. The minimum number of apartment dwelling units will be 585.
The buildings will be constructed in phases.
The first phase will be the proposed 34-storey building with its own podium. The proposed 37 and 44 storey buildings will share a joint podium.
The City of Hamilton and New Horizon Development Group (NHDG) reached the agreement, presenting it to the Tribunal on May 25, 2023.
The local neighbourhood association, the Lakewood Beach Community Council, was not invited to the settlement talks and stated in May the City’s decision to settle was a “betrayal.”
The lands were rezoned in February 2010 with “no maximum building height” and “no maximum lot coverage” both added to the Mixed Use Commercial “MUC-4” Zone designation.
Then Ward 10 Councillor Maria Pearson voted in favour of the rezoning.
In December 2018, NHDG filed a site plan application to develop the site. The plan sought “three towers being 48, 54, and 59 storeys in height” with 1,836 dwelling units.
This began a series of contentious Council meetings, denial of minor variances, and a rare denial of site plan approval by the City.
The 2010 rezoning effectively determined the outcome at the Ontario Municipal Board.
The development will have 600 square metres of commercial space.
Ground-level “Apartment Dwelling Units” will be permitted “at grade within the four-storey podium of the building along Frances Avenue.”
Parking ratios will be 1.25 spaces per unit for Phase One and 1.1 spaces per unit for the remaining phases.
Commercial and residential visitor parking may be shared.
There will be “vehicular access from Frances Avenue and Green Road.”
The City will permit the developer to count “balconies and terraces” as amenities areas. The minimum amenity area of 18.0 metres squares per unit is reduced to 17 metres square, “which may include 1,000 square metres of amenity area internal to the building and balconies/terraces.”
Increased landscaped open space area to 45 percent. MUC-4 Zoning requires 50 percent. The developer initially sought 36 percent.
The ruling will be posted to the OLT website in the coming days.