Skip to main content

Maplewood Not Out of the Woods Yet

From the Conservation Advisory Board, to the Full Conservation Board last Thursday, and now back to the Conservation Advisory Board we go. Maplewood isn't quite dead yet. Soon, hopefully, the idea of a private school in the middle of public conservation lands will be dealt a final blow, and the natural lands will be allowed to regenerate, as suggested by HCA staff in a thorough report (that keeps getting ignored by the board)

I'm using more time than I thought I would need on this file, getting my car-less self to far flung meeting locations only to see this thing kicked around despite all the good arguments for demolition, so I'm going to borrow from the recent update from the Hamilton Naturalists Club.
Hamilton Conservation Authority Meeting: Thursday, January 16th, 7pm at Ironwood Hall, Westfield Village (follow Hwy 8 north-west through Dundas, cross Hwy 5 and continue to Kirkwall Road/RR#552 just past Rockton. Turn right and follow for 1.5km)
The Club reports that
"There has been a lot of support for the demolition of the Maplewood building in Dundas Valley in the media and at the last HCA meeting....Our own Paul Smith presented at a public meeting a couple of weeks ago and many others including the Chair of the HCA when the property was acquired in 1968. http://www.thespec.com/news-story/4270168-bulldozer-or-school-for-maplewood-hall-/
There has been a good deal of interest in the conservation community to manage this property strictly in the interest of conservation and there has been a good deal of demonstration of financial support for this course as well. I conservatively count $128,000 from private sources widely reported in the media.
If you are interested in conserving conservation areas in a natural state, or as the HCA puts it "for the demolition of the building and support for the naturalization of the site and its access" then please try and attend Thursday's meeting.   
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Binkley's Pond, gone for parking

Jacob Binkley (1806-67), great grandson of Marx [Binkley], built the handsome stone house that still stands at 54 Sanders Blvd at the head of a ravine. The house was completed in 1847 and named Lakelet Vale, as it had a little spring-fed lake at the rear. Binkley's Pond, as it was known, was used for skating, fishing, and good times. It is now the Zone 6 parking lot at McMaster University on the west side of Cootes Drive. Loreen Jerome, The Way We Were "The House that Jacob Built" Ainslie Wood/Westdale Community Association of Resident Homeowners Inc. (AWWCA) http://www.awwca.ca/articles/ Skater's on Binkley's Pond circa 1917, now a McMaster parking lot
3 comments
Read more

McMaster's Parking Problem: Next Level

I'm sharing a recent article published in the Dundas Star News about McMaster's plan to build a - get this - $17-million dollar parking structure. Seventeen million. Yes, $17,000,000.00 That's a lot of money to provide temporary shelter for vehicles of people who choose to drive to campus. We will be following this closely. Here's the article.  Cootes Drive six-storey McMaster University parking garage under review Variances or amendment to zoning bylaw expected to permit parking structure Craig Campbell, Dundas Star News, Friday, March 5, 2021 Zoning bylaw variances, or amendments, could be required for a planned six-storey, 567-space McMaster University parking garage west of Cootes Drive, and north of Thorndale Crescent. University spokesperson Michelle Donavon said the $17-million structure on parking lot K at Westaway Road will help ongoing efforts to re-naturalize parts of the west campus, by moving some surface parking into the structure. “These plans will increa...
1 comment
Read more

McMaster's Parking Non-Problem Problem.

Looking at McMaster University 's plan to build a $12-million dollar parking garage at the site of current Parking Lot K, west of Cootes Drive. The University Planning Committee minutes from March 18, 2020 cite the need to replace their 490-stall Ward Avenue parking lot by 2024. That's the only reason given. Let's do some math: $12 mil/490 spaces=$24,489.00 per stall, which is in line with rough pricing per stall in parking structures. In McMaster's 2011 Campus Master Plan (CMP’11), they identified lot K & 4 other campus sites for potential “Academic, research or residence *above parking structure* & Lot i as a “parking structure” site. Now it looks like Lot K loses the " Academic, research or residence" part and becomes just a "parking structure." But wait! The more recent Facility Services Capital Plan Update 2021/2022 has a $17-million price tag for the structure. That's almost a 42% increase on the March 2020 UPC’s $12 million. This p...
Post a Comment
Read more