Commercial and Mixed Use

 Project Update: January 19 2009

• Commercial and Mixed Use Policies
• Designation and Implementation Summary

The Hamilton Commercial Strategy was prepared. The document is a high level comprehensive planning study to inform and direct the development of a new approach to commercial land use planning for the City. It takes into account past practices, reflects current and upcoming retail commercial trends, inventories existing and vacant commercial lands across the City, estimates land supply requirements to 2031, reviews commercial policy options and provides a recommended approach to move Hamilton's commercial policy regime towards an urban structure, decision-making system. Consideration of the GRIDS Nodes and Corridors strategy was paramount to the development of the study. The strategy recommends an urban structure approach to future retail service decisions focused on mixed use nodes and corridors building on strategically located existing and future commercial areas.

Module 1: Trends Report

• Explores the current and future trend patterns of retail service, need and location criteria of the retail industry in North America, Ontario and Hamilton.
• Identifies the effect socio-demographic characteristics can have on these trends.
• Explores the role commercial areas play in mixed use intensification, and the opportunities for such development in Hamilton.
• Identifies the influence retail development has on community travel patterns and the ability to link commercial development with transportation and transit infrastructure.

Module 2: Commercial Inventory (not available online)

• Describes the characteristics of the existing retail industry in Hamilton.
• Identifies the implications of further population growth on this industry, inventories of vacant and occupied retail/service space and vacant commercial designated lands.
• Includes a high level retail market analysis using the entire City of Hamilton as the study area.

Module 3: Planning Mechanisms

• Discusses planning mechanisms and options that the City could use to guide commercial development while achieving its strategic infrastructure and land use objectives.
• Evaluates options for distributing retail space considering the growth options from the GRIDS process, the relationship to the current retail space distribution and potential issues arising from these options.
• Recommends a preferred approach to commercial land use policy for future discussion.

At the present time, the City is undertaking a series of open houses and targeted stakeholder presentations to review the findings of the study and to get input into the potential issues. The panels from the open houses provide a summary of the study and the issues are available for viewing.