Hamilton Main Street West Design Charette

Prepared By: Moiz Behar, OAA, MRAIC, MCIP, RPP - MBPD Inc. On behalf of: OPPI, Urban Design Working Group Acknowledgements An urban design charette exploring options for revitalizing the Main Street West corridor was sponsored by the City of Hamilton and McMaster University as part of the Ontario Professional Planners Institutes 2005 conference. In particular, Councillor Brian McHattie, McMaster University Campus Planner Linda Axford and City of Hamilton Urban Designer Ken Coit graciously dedicated their time and resources to host an extensive site visit and in preparing for the workshop. These key participants were also joined by City of Hamilton staff Lawrence Stasiuk, Joanne Leung, Vanessa Grupe and Cam Thomas who provided invaluable local experience and insight. The dedication and enthusiasm of these volunteers led to a very successful event that fostered creative solutions for the Main Street West corridor. Charrette Intent and Background The goal of the charrette was to explore a redevelopment, intensification and streetscape improvement plan along Main Street West in Hamilton. The charrette area is approximately 3.5 km long, from the Highway 403 intersection in the east to the Main Street West and Osler Drive intersection in the west.

The charrette area covers an approximately 3.5km length of Main Street West

Along Main Street West there are several residential communities, McMaster University, commercial and industrial buildings as well as open space features The charrette focused on exploring several planning and urban design solutions to address several topics of interest to the municipality. Charrette Organization and Breakout Topics The charrette was organized by the Urban Design Working Group (UDWG) of the OPPI and facilitated by Mr. Moiz Behar, a founding member of UDWG. Mr. Moiz Behar provided an introduction to the urban design charette process and outlined the schedule and deliverables. A site visit is a very important part of understanding the issues and developing solutions but was not feasible given the time constraints. However, an extensive overview was provided to give the participants enough background to analyze the area and come up with pertinent recommendations. Photographs of the site area, aerial maps, scaled base maps and copies of relevant City documents were provided to each breakout group as resources. Mr. Ken Coit provided an overview of the study area from a planning policy perspective highlighting the recommendations of the Ainslie Wood Westdale Secondary Plan and providing an urban design analysis of the built form along the corridor. Linda Axford highlighted the overall plans for McMaster University and its hospital including the installation of a prominent university entrance feature along Main Street West. Councillor McHattie provided an overview of the issues and trends facing the neighbourhood including conversion of existing housing to student lodging houses and pressure for conversion of land along the corridor for commercial mixed use and medical uses.

Mr. Moiz Behar was the roving facilitator to assist the groups and keep them on time and on-track (see Appendix A). Following the presentations, breakout groups were formed to first provide a master plan concept for the whole area and then elaborate upon a specific geographic area and focus. Therefore, each group was responsible for: Analyzing the current land uses and built form Formulating a redevelopment and intensification master plan for the length area, including recommendations on building types and streetscape approaches Developing more detailed recommendations depending on the specific assigned focus areas

Due to the large numbers of participants, two of the six tables were assigned to master planning the whole area as their sole topic of analysis and recommendations. The breakout groups focussed on: master planning the whole area tables 1 and 2 (Facilitators: Karen Hammond and Eric Turcotte) the east gateway table 3 (Facilitator: Dan Leeming) the west gateway table 4 (Facilitator: Alex Taranu) the central area table 5 (Facilitator: Anne McIlroy) streetscaping of the area table 6 (Facilitator: Rick Merrill)

At the end of the charrette representatives of each breakout group presented their recommendations to the groups and shared in the discussion.

The East Gateway Area characterized by highway ramps and industrial / commercial buildings

The West Gateway Area includes commercial buildings and open space and landscape features

Central Area Cootes Drive intersection with Main Street West defines the west edge of McMaster University

Central Area the University buildings dominate the north side of Main Street West while many residential buildings are located on the south side of the street

Summary of the Breakout Group Findings This summary was prepared to highlight some of the common themes that emerged throughout the charette. Each group considered the overall neighbourhood context prior to focusing in on a specific topic. Please refer to the attached Appendix C for full individual group recommendations. The following are some of the recommendations of the groups in a graphic format:

The current transportation network emphasizes efficient vehicular movement along the Main Street West corridor, particularly to and from McMaster University and Dundas. This multiple-lane major arterial road currently acts as a barrier between the lands north and south of Main Street West. This poses a significant challenge to a encouraging a traditional main street mixed use environment. In successful main street commercial areas, traffic slows and pedestrian movements and activities take priority. Opportunities for crossing Main Street West from the mixed use commercial and residential areas to the south to the university and health centre to the north must be increased and conveniently located. A comprehensive traffic management approach is suggested to address the speed and volume of vehicular traffic. Calming the speed of vehicular traffic along the corridor should be a priority. For a successful mainstreet, pedestrians, cyclists and transit users

must feel comfortable sharing the corridor with other trucks and automobiles. A streetscape improvement strategy could introduce pedestrian oriented amenities such as transit facilities, wide sidewalks, street furniture, tree planting, parkettes, lighting and public art/gateway features to give the corridor an identifiable and comfortable pedestrian destination. Connecting the Main Street corridor with community trails and bike lanes would also help to make alternative modes of transportation more convenient. Dedicated bus or streetcar lanes with frequent stops can offer a viable alternative and help reduce the volume of traffic over the short term. Over the long term, the volume of vehicular traffic could be reduced by considering a by-pass to Dundas from Highway 403. As noted in the Ainslie Wood Westdale Secondary Plan, mixed use development consisting of commercial, office and institutional uses together with residential apartments or offices is preferred for the Main Street West corridor. Opportunities exist for intensifying uses along these low rise commercial strips while protecting the established low rise residential neighbourhoods. Appropriate buffering is needed between the mixed uses and residential uses particularly the screening of parking areas. Mainstreet buildings with commercial, office and institutional uses on the ground level would help enliven the corridor and improve the pedestrian experience. Significant demand for these non-residential spaces could be expected given the adjacent McMaster University and Health Centre. These institutions could act as a catalyst for redevelopment of the corridor by relocating some of their operations here.

For the properties on the south side of Main Street West, lack of lot depth and fragmented land ownership pose significant challenges for realizing the potential of a mixed use mainstreet. In addition, the secondary plans direction for driveway access from the arterial road and the off-street parking requirements for each use within a mixed use building may conflict with the overall objective of creating a safe and 9

convenient pedestrian-friendly main street. Land consolidation may permit a lane system to allow vehicular parking to be located behind the mainstreet buildings. Parking requirements should be reduced for mixed use buildings recognizing the demand for affordable housing adjacent to the university and the ability to share these parking spaces between different uses at different times of the day. A block by block analysis could help determine the redevelopment potential while maintaining heritage structures and buffering stable neighbourhoods.

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Main Street West Proposed Cross Section

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This summary provides a brief overview of the charrette findings and recommends broad conceptual approaches. An urban design study of the area should be prepared to provide a strategic direction and implementation plan to guide redevelopment of the corridor.

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APPENDIX A Workshop Timetable and Deliverables

1:30pm

Introduction 5 min. By workshop facilitator Moiz Behar Presentations on Hamilton and McMaster Campus 30 min. Ken Coit, City of Hamilton Linda Axford, McMaster University Councillor Brian McHattie, City of Hamilton Breakout Groups Work Session 95 min. All the breakout groups will produce a master plan concept for the area, which will be used as the basis for their follow up work on the specific topic areas. Table 1: Table 2: Table 3: Table 4: Table 5: Table 6: master planning the whole area (Facilitator: Karen Hammond) master planning the whole area (Facilitator: Eric Turcotte) streetscaping of the area (Facilitator: Dan Leeming) the west gateway (Facilitator: Alex Taranu) the central area (Facilitator: Anne McIlroy) the east gateway (Facilitator: Rick Merrill)

1:35pm

2:05pm

Group numbers 1 and 2 will have the full time allocated to master planning of the area. It is recommended that Groups 3 to 6 limit their master planning deliberations to 30 min. so as to allow sufficient time to explore their specific topics. 3:40pm Presentations 45 min. Each breakout group will describe their findings to all the workshop participants in a very concise manner approximately 7 min. each. Summary Conclusions 5 min. Based on the individual group presentations, Moiz Behar will summarize the findings of the workshop. Adjournment

4:25pm

4:30pm

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