Hamilton Port Authority Meeting

scotto

Administrator
Staff member
Feb 15, 2004
6,985
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The Beach Strip
#1
The Hamilton Port Authority will be hosting a meeting to discuss future plans for Fisherman's Pier.(Near the Canal)
The meeting will held at the Hamilton Beach Rescue Unit
316 Beach Blvd. (Across from the Dynes).
Date- Thursday, December 16th, 2004
Time- 7:00pm - 9:00pm(presentation begins at 7:30)

If you have some input or just what to see what is going on, please attend!
 

scotto

Administrator
Staff member
Feb 15, 2004
6,985
218
63
The Beach Strip
#2
$20-million price tag may sink Hamilton's lakeside marina

A small victory here, we get to keep our beach for now.

________________________________________________________
By Mark McNeil
The Hamilton Spectator
(Oct 24, 2005)
The Hamilton Port Authority's ambitious Fishermans Pier project may go ahead without a centrepiece marina.

The port authority had planned a 550-slip facility on Lake Ontario near the Burlington Ship Canal. But a consultant's study recently found the project would cost more than $20 million, mostly because of massive breakwalls that would be required to protect boats from giant waves.

Jeff Brookfield, vice-president of operations at Hamilton Port Authority (HPA), said the cost is a lot more than what was expected and there appear to be limited possibilities for government assistance. So other proposals are being considered that would either eliminate having a marina or build one on the Hamilton Harbour side of the Beach strip.

Brookfield says the harbour option -- although half the cost of a lake marina -- isn't ideal either. It would be more difficult to lease slips to boat owners because they tend to prefer being on the lake. And a marina on the bay side would be more directly below the Skyway Bridge, also undesirable.

The Fishermans Pier project, which at one point was seen as a smaller version of Vancouver's Granville Island, would use seven hectares on the Hamilton side of the Beach strip and five hectares on the Burlington portion for restaurants, specialty shops, fish and wildlife habitat as well as recreational trails.

The project is interesting because it is planned on property that has a long history of recreational use in Hamilton. From 1903 to 1978, Canada Amusement Company ran a carnival on the site that was a focal point for the community. With the lake on one side and the bay on the other, the port authority believes there is a great opportunity to develop the land again as a recreational complex with a nautical theme.

According to the HPA website, the plan is to "create an innovative recreational development that complements other waterfront initiatives in the area, meets the needs of recreational boaters, improves public access, attracts visitors as well as local residents and is an environmentally sustainable and attractive destination."

A public consultation process will end in a couple of weeks and lead to a report to the HPA's board in late November.

Brookfield said the board will then decide what to do with the project. An environmental assessment will also be required.

mmcneil@thespec.com

905-526-4687
 

scotto

Administrator
Staff member
Feb 15, 2004
6,985
218
63
The Beach Strip
#3
Beach Strip marina shelved, cost cited :celebrate
Fisherman's Pier plan to focus on land components
By John Burman
The Hamilton Spectator(Dec 7, 2005)
Don't count the Hamilton Port Authority out of the marina game just yet.

The authority has decided not to include a centrepiece marina facility in its Fisherman's Pier plans on the Beach Strip.

But authority chair Larry Russell said last night the board has not given up on having a marina elsewhere or at a later date.

The authority had planned for a 550-slip marina on the lake side of the Beach Strip near the canal but found it would cost more than $20 million for massive breakwalls because of the depth of the lake.

"The cost of the breakwater was a major concern" in the decision Nov. 28 to narrow the scope of the plans.

The lake side is still an attractive option for a marina but it would take "a great deal of work" to make it happen, he said.

The situation is similar to the spot Burlington city council found itself in early this year when costs of breakwaters scuttled plans for a fair-sized marina at the end of the Spencer Smith Park pier project

Russell said the other option, to put a marina on the bay side of the strip, was not attractive being beneath the two Burlington Skyway. It would also mean boaters headed for the lake would have to wait for the lift bridge as well.

"It wasn't a realistic option."

Russell said the authority remains committed to the Fisherman's Pier project, concentrating on the land components.

The project has completed one of three phases and reached a point where "we had to make choices, do we move ahead with the marina being the focal point or some land use facilities? And that's where we have gone."

But Russell stressed -- despite how the decision looked in a recent press release -- that the authority has not discounted a marina.

"It sounded final, there's no question.

"But it reflected the position we were in.

"We took a look and said 'no, let's stop at this point and look at other options.'"

Russell said Pier 8, on Hamilton's bayfront, is still an option for a marina some day. The authority is talking to the city about future use of the site.

"We still have an 11-year-lease there. We are not out of the marina business by any stretch of the imagination."

But the authority will not stand in the city's way if it has another viable option for Pier 8.

"(The authority) will not be obstructionist."

The focus on Fisherman's Pier is shifting to the land side, he said, and a marina portion is not on the table at this time.

What the authority will do now, is "renegotiate and rethink" the use of a marina at Pier 8.

Russell said the Fisherman's Pier plans were not intended as an either/or situation, moving everything to the Beach Strip and leaving nothing at Pier 8.

Pier 8 would still have had a reduced marina operation, he said.

The project now moves to stage two of the co-ordinated environmental assessment.

jburman@thespec.com

905-526-2469
 
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