Press Release

What’s Going On At Clappison’s Corners?: Back when Flamborough still had its own town council, a decision was made in 1998 to approve a re-zoning of the lands on the southeast portion of the corner to allow a “big box” development. Since that time, the only additional question to be contemplated by Hamilton City Council was whether or not to allow a request for a 125,000 square-foot food store component. A full “market study” was undertaken along with a Peer Review to assess the need for that component with the results coming down in favour of the proposed supermarket. So, in the end, approval was granted by Hamilton City Council based on those two reports. However, after the developer got all the rezoning approvals in place, they have since come back with a new proposal that would see the use of the site altered significantly. In essence, they asking that the “big box” proponent, which would have seen structures built at a minimum of 1,800 square-metres, be eliminated and they are now asking for buildings of 275 square-metres, roughly one-ninth of the former approved size. Obviously, since this is significantly different than what was previously approved, our Planning and Development staff will be treating this as a brand new application. I’ll keep you posted on where this application is going.

Things are equally busy on the north-east side of Clappison’s Corner. Most area residents know that a new development proposal has hit Hamilton City Hall to develop the lands for various commercial uses. Some of the desired uses would require a complete re-zoning of those lands but many are allowed within the current zoning, which is Prestige Industrial. The allowable uses under the current zoning range from hotels, place of entertainments, place of recreations, clinic and business, professional or administrative office (e.g. medical/dental/office), restaurants, home improvement, furniture, appliance, lawn and garden, financial institution and gas bars. Anything other than those uses will require a re-zoning, complete with market research to support the change.

Our planning and development department has already sent a lengthy list of concerns back to the developers with traffic concerns being at the top of the list. All of these concerns have to be addressed before the proposal goes anywhere. However, one thing is certain – Clappison’s Corners is attracting a lot of attention from both out-of-town builders, along with our own local developers.

Requests for CVA Reconsiderations Being Sent Now: I have already seen a number of constituents pop by my Constituents’ Days at Flamborough Town Hall on Thursday afternoons with their new Current Value Assessments (CVAs). So far, we had processed over 100 Requests for Reconsiderations since the new CVAs arrived in November and already some have come back from the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) with positive results that have dropped their property values to a more reasonable number. But remember, you have to send in your request if you want MPAC to reconsider. I am available at Flamborough Town Hall every Thursday from 1 to 4 p.m. and after we process your request, we fax it directly to MPAC. No appointments are necessary – just drop in and we will get your request going.

If you want to contact me through the week regarding other constituency concerns, I am available at 905-546-2713. I am also available through my City Hall e-mail address which is: mmccarth@hamilton.ca My assistant, Don, is also available at 905-546-3944 or at: dredmond@hamilton.ca. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and I look forward to seeing you in 2004.