Planning Committee for May 20, 2014 [Live 9:30am]

Council’s Planning Committee will debate one major rezoning (198 and 206 Wellington Street South) and a series of housekeeping items during their 8th meeting of 2014.

Live video starts at 9:30am

Spallacci Group wants to rezone 198 and 206 Wellington Street South from single/two family resident to multi-residential to build a 5 storey, 28 unit apartment building on the property that corners Charlton Avenue.

There are 13 letters of opposition to the original proposal and 4 letters of opposition to the current proposal. The letters of opposition focus upon quality of life issues such as noise, parking, privacy, shadows, and difference in height between an apartment building and surrounding single family homes.

Staff are recommending approval of the proposal.

Councillors will vote on making the sign kiosks in the Downtown, International Village, and Westdale BIAs a permanent feature of street feature. Staff will be asked to return with a plan for expansion into other BIAs.

The Flamborough Tech Park needs $802,000 in road infrastructure work. Staff found $442,000 in existing accounts for the working and are recommending using reserves to fund the outstanding $360,000 required for the project.

The Residential Drainage Assistance Pilot Program is being recommended to continue at a cost of $162,000 for a staff position until September 2015 (Salary of $114,500/yr). The extension is to coincide with the municipal law enforcement blocked swales pilot project. The staff position assists with drainage issues on private property, including engineering assistance and making improvements on bordering public lands.

Delays to the Business Licensing Fee Review are recommended as staff state they need to focus on inspecting unlicensed businesses. The cost of the delay will be $250,000 in lost license fees.

The Fee Review is designed to make licensing fees fully cost-recovered and have been increasing fees for some businesses on a gradual basis.

Removed from Council’s outstanding business list is the Newalta Waste Disposal Facility Increased Service Area application. Staff report Newalta withdrew it’s application to the provincial government to expand the service area for their waste transfer station at 237 Brant Street in north Hamilton.