B-Line Benefits: Prezoning Hamilton LRT corridor

NRU
Aug. 12, 2015
By Edward LaRusic

With provincial funding in place, the City of Hamilton is aggressively seeking to capture the economic uplift of a new LRT route through its downtown by pre-zoning the corridor.

“There is no other city building initiative you can image that would be as significant as this one,” city manager Chris Murray told council at the August 10 general issues committee meeting.

With provincial funding committed, the 10.8-km B-line LRT is planned to run along King Street between McMaster University to the west and the Queenston Circle to the east.

Staff are focussing on leveraging opportunities for economic development benefits associated with the line. Planning and economic development general manager Jason Thorne told the committee that staff want to pre-zone the corridor with minimum and maximum zoning standards.

Meanwhile, staff want to prevent any development that is incompatible with the LRT from going forward.

“There’s a risk that development could come forward in the interim that could build on sites or build to a design that is not orientated to or supportive of transit. We don’t want to lose these development opportunities, so it is our intent to bring forward an interim control by-law.”

The predominate zoning outside the downtown along the LRT corridor dates back to the 1950s and allows a variety of uses that include car dealerships, gas stations and single detached dwellings. Thorne said staff will craft the interim control by-law to prevent such developments from occurring until the new zoning by-law is in place.

Staff will be looking at sites with an economic lens as a developer would, as well as examining issues such as parking, loading, transition and site access. Thorne said the goal of pre-zoning is to expedite development, alleviating the need for zoning by-law and official plan amendments and hopefully minor variances.

“I want to make sure that we’re establishing zoning standards that are really based and grounded in a good understanding of what the market is and where the market lies. We don’t want to take a broad brush to the corridor. We want to make sure it’s reflective of true market conditions.”

Staff is currently working on new commercial and mixed-use zoning to implement the 2010 Hamilton official plan, but the work is not expected to finish until late 2016 or early 2017.

In the meantime, staff will be fast tracking a zoning by-law for the B-line corridor, with work to begin this year.

McMaster Institute for Transportation and Logistics researcher and PhD candidate Chris Higgins appeared before the committee in support of the LRT on behalf of the institute.

He noted that Metrolinx expects an annual increase in taxable assessment of $61.83-million along the B-line. However, work on his PhD thesis suggests that high-density, mixed-use development around the B-line stations could result in a much larger economic windfall.

“If we really put our foot on the accelerator here and try to maximize what we can get from LRT and maximize the investment in LRT, maybe we should shoot for something higher. An uplift of 15 to 20 per cent in station areas would create an uplift of $261-million captured to the city [annually].”

While generally supportive of the LRT, several councillors raised concerns about affordability and traffic congestion that could result from increased density along the corridor.

Ward 15 councillor Judi Patridge said the economic uplift is a “red flag” for her. She is concerned this means the gentrification of the corridor along the B-line which would push existing residents out of the neighbourhood.

“What about the affordability factor? Our residents are already struggling under the tax base.”

Murray reminded council that staff has been directed to consider affordability in planning for future growth.

“We have a chance to look at some of the best housing policies that have been developed in this country... and really come up with what will be very thoughtful, well incentivized development along this corridor that speaks to all the needs of this community.”

Leading the charge on traffic concerns was ward 8 councillor Terry Whitehead. He worried that new development paired with the loss of two lanes of traffic would cripple the movement of people and goods into the downtown. Critical of past traffic modelling eff orts for projects such as the Red Hill Valley Parkway and Upper James Street, he said they ignored public input and diminished the potential for increased congestion.

“How do I go out to my community and convince them that the [traffic] modelling is correct when we’ve gotten it so wrong in the past?”

Murray disagreed that the city has done a poor job of modelling traffic in the past. But assured the councillor that staff would hold public workshops help people understand how traffic modelling is done.

“Communication and engagement now that this project is very real is going to be critical... with past modelling efforts, I think they were quite instrumental in ensuring we made some critical infrastructure investments, and for the most part I believe we were fairly bang on in terms of what [staff was] predicting.”

In addition to land use and density, Throne said staff will be undertaking a downtown servicing strategy to ensure that any improvements needed to accommodate development occur when the LRT is being constructed. As well, streetscape guidelines and a public realm plan will be prepared to ensure that new development creates an active streetscape and is pedestrian friendly.

An EA and 30 per cent of the design has been completed, although staff say there could be changes to the EA as the project moves forward. Metrolinx plans an extension to the B-line east to Eastgate Square at Centennial Parkway South, but this is currently unfunded.

Funding for the B-line is part of a $1.2-billion provincial investment in Hamilton transit, which includes an additional, smaller LRT line, a new GO station, and other improvements. Metrolinx will be the project manager for all these projects.

It is anticipated that the lines will be built through a public-private partnership, with the procurement process expected to being in 2017 and construction in 2019. The B-line LRT is estimated to be completed in 2024. While a memorandum of agreement between the city and Metrolinx is still in the works, the expectation is that Metrolinx will operate and maintain the line for 30 years.

At the committee meeting, members agreed with staff recommendations to create an LRT office to coordinate with Metrolinx and stakeholders and an LRT council subcommittee to provide input and guidance on significant issues and decisions.