| TRANSFORMING THE TOWN
Hogan's Alley becomes Hogan's Court
by
David Serafino
The document that provides intimate design details and a
heritage conservation strategy for Port Dalhousie is now available
to the public. It is an extensive piece of work called the
Site Plan and Heritage Applications and a ‘must read’
for both proponents and opponents of the Port Place project,
city councillors and anyone wanting to get a true perspective
of what is actually being proposed for Port Dalhousie’s
future.
Though it is a 17-storey condominium tower that gets all
the local press, this document places the heart of Port Place
elsewhere—at the center. The condo building, on the
periphery of the block, is the economic engine that makes
everything else possible but the primary “people place”
in the proposed development is the central courtyard to be
named Hogan’s Court.
The name is derived from the existing Hogan’s Alley,
a thoroughfare that has served, up to this day, as a rear
service alley for the buildings that front onto Lakeport Road.
In the past decade, licensed patios have been built at the
backs of these buildings and will remain to be integrated
into the new courtyard which is planned for where the My Cottage
patio presently sits.
In addition to these existing patio bars, the courtyard
will be flanked by the hotel and condo building and a four
storey retail building. Access to the courtyard will be maintained
at the existing Hogan’s Alley on Lock Street with a
new access point created diagonally across the courtyard in
the north corner. The north access will be enhanced with a
water feature leading down a stairway into Lakeside Park.
The courtyard, though privately owned, will be treated as
public property under terms of the site plan agreement. Open
to the public at all hours, it will be illuminated by a multi-modal
system and contain modular and moveable features such as planters,
benches, shade canopies and fountains so that the courtyard
can be re-arranged at any time to accommodate a variety of
events. A small stage with a removable awning is also planned.
It is a multi-valent design intended to accommodate a wide
variety of activities in various seasons with a seating capacity
of 600. The site plan application lists the following as possible
uses:
Outdoor music recitals
Open air markets
Antique book events
Winter ice sculpture exhibits
Wine festivals
Food festivals
Celebration of racing events
Children’s theatre
Theatre related events
Weddings and other special functions
In addition to being used for specific purposes, the courtyard
will also serve as a meeting place where the public can browse
the boutiques, lunch at one of the cafés or just relax
and enjoy the ambiance enhanced by a large terrace overlooking
the park.
A DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT
Though the courtyard may be considered the heart of the
development and the one aspect of it that can be most appreciated
and used by the general public, there is much more to be explained
and described. The Site Plan and Heritage Application is a
two-inch thick document that details not only what is planned
but how the plan is to be implemented. In addition, it contains
numerous accurately scaled drawings and photographs of all
existing buildings (including the three scheduled for demolition)
and, thereby, will stand in perpetuity as a substantial and
important record of Port Dalhousie’s built heritage.
Taxpayers can be pleased to note that this document, which
cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to produce, is being
paid for entirely by the developers themselves.
Project Architect Michael Kirkland states, “Council
and the opponents of the project ironically had requested
that we do this in advance of the OMB decision on the zoning.
Normally you do this after. But because the project is deemed
to be so much about heritage and complex in terms of parts
that relate to each other, it’s been determined that
seeing it in its more fulsome form was more useful in judging
the zoning at the OMB and allowing the city to understand
what they were actually going to be getting.”
Kirkland goes on to explain that this is a document at the
standard of the most sophisticated of levels citing it is
equivalent to the documentation provided for Toronto’s
Distillery District project—one which is significantly
larger and of higher heritage profile than Port Dalhousie.
The fact that no scaled drawings or original blueprints of
the existing buildings existed is what made the task so exhaustive
and intensive. The architect’s team had to go into each
and every building from basement to roof to measure and record
the details. The resulting drawings and photographs are now
included in the application and the archival original photographs
have been printed on a paper that allows them to be virtually
permanent.
WILL COUNCIL READ IT?
Considering it was the present city council who sided with
the opponents of the project to demand that the developers
spend several hundreds of thousands of dollars to prepare
the site plan and heritage application document, while in
the same breath passing a resolution that they would not defend
at the OMB the previous council’s decision to approve
the project, you hope they will at least read it now that
it’s been prepared. If they do, it’s possible
that those councillors who opposed the project might be educated
to the point of supporting it.
One way or the other, council’s opinion has little
bearing on whether this project will be approved since that
decision will now be made at the OMB. Preliminary hearings
are to begin in mid October and then formal hearings will
commence in January 2008.
It is in the realm of possibility that the motion to not
defend their position at the OMB could be revisited. It would
require a councillor who voted for the motion to raise it
and then passed by a two-third majority of council. Though
this is an unlikely scenario to be played out, council is
not yet finished with dealing with the Port Place development
proposal. It still has to vote on the site plan and weigh
in on the heritage application. But before they do that, they
will hear from the two council appointed heritage committees—the
St. Catharines Heritage Committee and the Port Dalhousie Heritage
District Advisory Committee (PDHDAC).
IF YOU LIKE IRONY, YOU’LL LOVE THIS
PDHDAC is a city council appointed advisory committee. Its
role is to advise city council on heritage matters in Port
Dalhousie. The committee consists of 13 members, two of whom
are the ward councillors and one being the city’s heritage
planner. The ten others are St. Catharines citizens. Two are
members of the citizens group Niagara Citizens for Smart Development
which supports the development proposal. The other eight belong
to the citizen’s group PROUD which is appealing council’s
decision to approve the project at the OMB. In fact, all eight
are active and executive members of PROUD, including the president
and vice-president.
What we have is a majority of people on PDHDAC who have been
appointed by council to provide objective advice to council
and who are also the very same people who are taking the city
to the OMB to overturn its decision. Some might suggest that
this is a conflict of interest.
How can PDHDAC be expected to offer objective advice on the
Heritage Application when anything positive it says can be
used against them (as PROUD) at the OMB? In order to support
their case at the OMB this controlling majority of people
on PDHDAC have no choice but to find fault with the heritage
application.
Fortunately, like all advisory committees, city council
is under no obligation to heed the advice of PDHDAC. So why
even bother to hear it in the first place or to ask the group
to prepare a report which will no doubt be biased and recommend
against approving the heritage application? Instead, why don’t
councillors just read the Heritage Application themselves
and come to their own conclusions?
Taxpayers should note that if council votes against a staff
recommendation to approve the heritage application, they will
be footing the bill for the city to hire outside experts to
defend this position.
THE HERITAGE APPLICATION
Reading through the portion of the document entitled Heritage
Conservation Strategy, one may get the impression that this
is the most detailed and comprehensive effort ever undertaken
in our city to protect heritage buildings. The strategy is
not simply to leave the buildings alone and build around them
but to restore, rehabilitate and integrate into the project
anything and everything of heritage value.
There are three buildings scheduled for demolition. Both
the Erskine Pharmacy (Bearly Stuffed Factory) and the Hydro
Building (Pita Place) are simple, single-storey, flat-roof,
wood-frame commercial boxes built on a concrete slab in the
1950s. The document refers to them as having “no style
or compositional relationship to the other heritage buildings
on Lock Street.” The third, the Rum Jungle, includes
what was once the rear garage of the hydro building along
with ancillary structures “with no architectural design
merit or significant heritage value.”
BUILDINGS BEING SAVED
Buildings being conserved are:
The Old Jail
The Austin House Hotel (My Cottage)
The McGrath and Union House Hotels (Port Mansion)
The Jail
The report states: “The preserved Jail will be featured
under a large-scale portico…. The resulting visibility
of the Jail at the pedestrian level from adjacent sidewalks
and park will ensure that the physical relationship of the
Jail to the adjacent Lock One site is maintained. Public perception
of this relationship will be enhanced by the provision of
a small visitor centre within the Jail. Restoration work calls
for, among other things, injection grouting to consolidate
the masonry and replacing the windows and door to resemble
the original style.
The Austin House Hotel
As the dominant heritage building in the commercial core,
much effort is being put into conserving this building. Everything,
except the newly-added one-storey addition on the back, will
be incorporated into the new boutique hotel being built around
it.
“Some of the things that are being done are quite heroic”
says Michael Kirkland. “For example, as you navigate
the (underground) garage you will go through portals where
original foundation walls of the buildings are visible.”
On the upper floors of the buildings, where the boutique
hotel has an old section and a new section, one will walk
through corridors and encounter the brick exterior walls of
the original building in common use with the new building.
The existing oak staircase will be retained and illuminated
with a skylight. The two-storey rear appendage of the building
will be incorporated into the new building and left visible.
The McGrath and Union House Hotels
Due to reconstruction in 1936 that joined the two hotels,
and extensive alterations in 1982, there are only small sections
of the original fabric still remaining. However, those sections
are being conserved and integrated into a new building which
will be constructed to resemble the original two hotels that
occupied the site where the Port Mansion now stands. The existing
portico will be replaced with a similar one that conforms
to the original style.
MORE GOOD NEWS
Though the Heritage Conservation Strategy makes up a sizeable
portion of the document, there is more that needs to be understood.
Aesthetics
Presently there are two aspects in the commercial core that
vie for the title of most unsightly—overflowing garbage
containers and the tangle of utility lines. Both will disappear
with respect to the block itself and the streets surrounding
the block.
All utility lines will be buried and the utility poles removed.
Garbage for all tenants in the block, including for those
who are not part of the development, will be handled through
a central below grade processing facility within the project.
The Cars
An unjustified yet persistent criticism of the project is
that traffic and parking problems will be exacerbated. First,
it must be understood that the approximately 38,000 sq. ft.
of retail being proposed is replacing an existing 34,000 sq.
ft., meaning the net addition is only about 4000 sq. ft. Second,
patrons to Port Place will arrive at different times throughout
the day rather than all at once. Third, two traffic studies
have already concluded that both the traffic and parking situation
will improve—not worsen—at all times of the day,
week and year. The plan calls for adding 226 new parking spaces
underground in a multi-level garage.
Water & Sewage
A new watermain will be constructed to provide a sufficient
source of city water to all areas of the site; however, it
has been determined that the existing nearby holding tank
has adequate capacity to handle sewage generated within the
development. Storm water will not be flushed into the holding
tank or into the city’s combined sewers but will be
retained on site in a separate storage tank and used for fountains
and for watering plants. The project is applying for LEEDS
certification which is an environmental standard for sustainability.
BUILDING HEIGHTS
The streetscapes on both Lock Street and Lakeport Road will
match the existing three-storey level by recessing the fourth
floor to maintain the look of the existing roof line.
The condo building is designed for 17 stories. It will have
a footprint of approximately 7% of the total block and be
set back on the corner closest to the park and beach so as
not to disrupt the streetscapes of Lock Street and Lakeport
Road. The document states: “From the lake and Lakeside
Park the building is singular, sitting behind the trees of
Lakeside Park, and acting as a sentinel for the commercial
core of Port Dalhousie when seen from the North.” ¤
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