Registration for Hamilton’s ‘Reimagining Neighbourhoods’ virtual meeting extended to Jan. 16

The registration deadline for a virtual meeting next week to see the progress of the final phase of a comprehensive zoning by-law in Hamilton has been extended to from today (January 12) to Wednesday January 16.

The meeting will be held Thursday, January 17.

The original zoning by-law was enacted to govern building regulations nearly 19 years ago but has been considerably tweaked in subsequent years and is up for more changes since the provincial government enacted legislation in 2023 to boost housing construction and to ramp up more “small-scale intensification opportunities” in urban neighbourhoods.

The final phase of the Residential Zones Project – Reimagining Neighbourhoods project is focused on residential zones in the urban core, with a goal of implementing the policies of the Urban Hamilton Official Plan to create consistent residential zones across the city’s entire urban area.

The Urban Hamilton Official Plan now permits fourplexes in neighbourhoods and sixplexes in locations generally along the periphery of neighbourhoods. The City is developing infill design guidelines for these forms of housing to work with the new zoning regulations to help integrate the new housing types in local communities.

Along the edge of neighbourhoods, it may mean townhouses or mid-rise apartment or condominium buildings that take advantage of transit and help to create a more walkable environment.

The City engaged residents on the subject with a survey, undertaken November 17 to December 8, and are using feedback from the survey and from a focus group discussion in November 2022 to draft the guidelines and the new zoning regulations.

The number of Low Density Residential Zones, currently comprising more than 40 per cent of all housing in Hamilton, is expected to be “significantly reduced” after the completion of the project, resulting in consistent low density residential zones across the city.

To register, and for recent updates, including a ‘What We’ve Heard’ summary of responses to the survey, visit https://engage.hamilton.ca/reimagining-neighbourhoods