Main St West Charette Oct 06

7/30/2019 Main St West Charette Oct 06

1/13

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 corridorwas sponsored by the City of Hamilton and McMaster University as part of the OntarioProfessional Planners Institutes 2005 conference. In particular, Councillor BrianMcHattie, McMaster University Campus Planner Linda Axford and City of HamiltonUrban Designer Ken Coit graciously dedicated their time and resources to host anextensive site visit and in preparing for the workshop. These key participants were alsojoined by City of Hamilton staff Lawrence Stasiuk, J oanne Leung, Vanessa Grupe andCam Thomas who provided invaluable local experience and insight. The dedication andenthusiasm 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 andstreetscape improvement plan along Main Street West in Hamilton. The charrette areais approximately 3.5 km long, from the Highway 403 intersection in the east to the MainStreet West and Osler Drive intersection in the west.

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


2/13

Along Main Street West there are several residential communities, McMasterUniversity, 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 OPPIand facilitated by Mr. Moiz Behar, a founding member of UDWG.

Mr. Moiz Behar provided an introduction to the urban design charette process andoutlined 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 wasprovided to give the participants enough background to analyze the area and come upwith pertinent recommendations. Photographs of the site area, aerial maps, scaledbase maps and copies of relevant City documents were provided to each breakoutgroup as resources.

Mr. Ken Coit provided an overview of the study area from a planning policy perspectivehighlighting the recommendations of theAinslie Wood Westdale Secondary Plan andproviding 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 StreetWest.

Councillor McHattie provided an overview of the issues and trends facing theneighbourhood including conversion of existing housing to student lodging houses andpressure for conversion of land along the corridor for commercial mixed use andmedical uses.

2


3/13

Mr. Moiz Behar was the roving facilitator to assist the groups and keep them on timeand on-track (see Appendix A).

Following the presentations, breakout groups were formed to first provide a master planconcept 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 assignedfocus areas

Due to the large numbers of participants, two of the six tables were assigned to masterplanning the whole area as their sole topic of analysis and recommendations. Thebreakout groups focussed on:

master planning the whole area tables 1 and 2 (Facilitators: Karen Hammondand 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 theirrecommendations to the groups and shared in the discussion.

3


4/13

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

4


5/13

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

5


6/13

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

6


7/13

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

7


8/13

Summary of the Breakout Group Findings

This summary was prepared to highlight some of the common themes that emergedthroughout the charette. Each group considered the overall neighbourhood contextprior 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 ofthe groups in a graphic format:

The current transportation network emphasizes efficient vehicular movement along theMain 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 northand south of Main Street West. This poses a significant challenge to a encouraging atraditional main street mixed use environment. In successful main street commercial

areas, traffic slows and pedestrian movements and activities take priority. Opportunitiesfor crossing Main Street West from the mixed use commercial and residential areas tothe south to the university and health centre to the north must be increased andconveniently located.

A comprehensive traffic management approach is suggested to address the speed andvolume of vehicular traffic. Calming the speed of vehicular traffic along the corridorshould be a priority. For a successful mainstreet, pedestrians, cyclists and transit users

8


9/13

must feel comfortable sharing the corridor with other trucks and automobiles. Astreetscape improvement strategy could introduce pedestrian oriented amenities suchas transit facilities, wide sidewalks, street furniture, tree planting, parkettes, lighting andpublic art/gateway features to give the corridor an identifiable and comfortablepedestrian destination. Connecting the Main Street corridor with community trails and

bike lanes would also help to make alternative modes of transportation moreconvenient. Dedicated bus or streetcar lanes with frequent stops can offer a viablealternative and help reduce the volume of traffic over the short term. Over the longterm, the volume of vehicular traffic could be reduced by considering a by-pass toDundas from Highway 403.

As noted in the Ainslie Wood Westdale Secondary Plan, mixed use developmentconsisting of commercial, office and institutional uses together with residentialapartments or offices is preferred for the Main Street West corridor. Opportunities existfor intensifying uses along these low rise commercial strips while protecting theestablished low rise residential neighbourhoods. Appropriate buffering is needed

between the mixed uses and residential uses particularly the screening of parkingareas. Mainstreet buildings with commercial, office and institutional uses on the groundlevel would help enliven the corridor and improve the pedestrian experience. Significantdemand for these non-residential spaces could be expected given the adjacentMcMaster University and Health Centre. These institutions could act as a catalyst forredevelopment 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 andfragmented land ownership pose significant challenges for realizing the potential of amixed use mainstreet. In addition, the secondary plans direction for driveway accessfrom the arterial road and the off-street parking requirements for each use within amixed use building may conflict with the overall objective of creating a safe and

9


10/13

convenient pedestrian-friendly main street. Land consolidation may permit a lanesystem to allow vehicular parking to be located behind the mainstreet buildings.Parking requirements should be reduced for mixed use buildings recognizing thedemand for affordable housing adjacent to the university and the ability to share theseparking spaces between different uses at different times of the day. A block by block

analysis could help determine the redevelopment potential while maintaining heritagestructures and buffering stable neighbourhoods.

10


11/13

Main Street West Proposed Cross Section

11


12/13

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

corridor.

12


13/13

APPENDIX A

Workshop Timetable and Deliverables

1:30pm Introduct ion 5 min.By workshop facilitator Moiz Behar

1:35pm Presentations on Hamil ton and McMaster Campus 30 min.Ken Coit, City of HamiltonLinda Axford, McMaster UniversityCouncillor Brian McHattie, City of Hamilton

2:05pm 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 specifictopic areas.

Table 1: master planning the whole area (Facilitator: Karen Hammond)Table 2: master planning the whole area (Facilitator: Eric Turcotte)Table 3: streetscaping of the area (Facilitator: Dan Leeming)Table 4: the west gateway (Facilitator: Alex Taranu)Table 5: the central area (Facilitator: Anne McIlroy)Table 6: the east gateway (Facilitator: Rick Merrill)

Group numbers 1 and 2 will have the full time allocated to master planningof the area.

It is recommended that Groups 3 to 6 limit their master planningdeliberations to 30 min. so as to allow sufficient time to explore theirspecific topics.

3:40pm Presentations 45 min.Each breakout group will describe their findings to all the workshopparticipants in a very concise manner approximately 7 min. each.

4:25pm Summary Conclusions 5 min.

Based on the individual group presentations, Moiz Behar will summarizethe findings of the workshop.

4:30pm Adjournment

13

Main St West Charette Oct 06

Documents

Main St West Charette Oct 06