Sherry Revesz said she’s worried construction on the sites will only add to ongoing flooding problems between Grays and Millen roads, particularly along Frances Avenue.She said even new condo developments are experiencing problems with flooding and sinking porches because concerns are falling on deaf ears at city hall.
Two of the properties in question are owned by the Ontario Realty Corporation, while the third belongs to the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board, which has declared the site surplus to its needs. All three were offered to the city at market value, but council voted last month not to buy them.
“You can ask anybody in the neighbourhood. They’ll tell you it’s always had (flooding) issues. It’s just one thing after another,” Revesz said.
“They have to understand that people live here and those are big issues when you start having basements flooding out and your roads flooding out and it goes up to your house. It can start weakening foundations.” Environment Hamilton is also criticizing city planning reports clearing the properties for sale, contending staff’s analysis failed to consider their ecological and hydrological roles. Executive director Lynda Lukasik said two of the properties – one by the southwest corner of Frances and Millen, the other by the southeast corner of Frances and Grays – have marshland features and are near environmentally sensitive areas. They may also be home to significant species, she said.
The third property, immediately east of Bayview West Park, is a largely open field to the south of Lakeview Drive between the Fruitland Road exit ramp and a curving stretch of the North Service Road.
Lukasik wants the city to consult its own natural heritage planners and the Hamilton Conservation Authority before allowing any development.
“Let’s just slow down and make sure that we’re not making any problematic decisions here, that we’re taking a look at everything we need to look at before we move ahead,” she said.
“Clearly that area has been repeatedly hard hit with the high-intensity storms that we’re having these days. People in those neighbourhoods are rightfully concerned not only for the existing natural areas and the impacts that they’re experiencing, but also homeowners who are experiencing flooding problems on their properties and homes as well.” Ward 10 Councillor Maria Pearson, who represents the area, said all three sites have been earmarked for development for decades and she’s not sure why there are concerns.
But she said anyone who buys the properties must address flooding or ecological issues as part of the development approval process.
“If there are issues, they’ll be dealt with,” she said during a tour of the three sites last week.
Pearson said development plans in the area strike a balance between the need for housing and the economic benefits it brings with the preservation of green space.
She pointed to the pending construction of the 900-unit Green Millen Shore Estates, which will bring a mix of high-rise, medium-rise and townhouse condo developments, but sets aside an environmentally sensitive swath of city-owned land running to the lake.
Pearson attributed past flooding by Frances and Church Street to debris clogging a “huge” culvert in the area and said she’s not aware of any problems by the three sites in question.
“These lands from Green to Millen road(s) have been zoned since the Seventies for highrise development,” she said, adding much of it was farmed for a number of years “just to keep the agricultural classification.”
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