Dundas 125 Pirie site plan review could start before tribunal’s written decision

City of Hamilton staff say they would rely on an Ontario Land Tribunal oral decision, approving a zoning amendment for a maximum 100-space retirement home, 84 apartments, and 16 townhouses at 125 Pirie Dr., to begin reviewing a site plan application for the proposed development.

City spokesperson Lauren Vastano said the city would require the tribunal's formal written order before issuing final site plan approval.

Vastano said, as of Tuesday, Jan. 31, the city had not received a site plan application from property owner FGL Pirie Inc.

The OLT issued the oral decision following a four-hour settlement hearing on Friday, Jan. 27.

Tribunal spokesperson Elizabeth Meneses Del Castillo said Jan. 30 the written decision had not yet been prepared, and could include further directions, or conditions, not stated in the oral decision at the hearing.

While many tribunal decisions are issued within 60 days of the hearing, some matters may take longer, depending on the complexity of the issues," Meneses Del Castillo said.

The proposed development includes a four-storey building, with a maximum 100 retirement home spaces and 84 apartments, and a rooftop amenity area above the fourth-storey.

According to the city's website, the site plan process reviews design features of a proposed development and co-ordinates several aspects of a development - including overall design and layout, landscaping, impacts on surrounding land uses, landscaping, grading, drainage and storm water management, parking and vehicle access.

The website states it usually takes four to six weeks to get conditional site plan approval, and the time it takes for final site plan approval depends on how long it takes the applicant to satisfy all pre-building permit conditions.

FGL Pirie appealed the city's failure to make a decision on its zoning bylaw application within the 90-day period prescribed by the province's Planning Act.

A planning staff report recommending approval of the zoning amendment was scheduled to go to council's planning committee on Sept. 6, 2022 - but councillors deferred consideration of the report until the first quarter of 2023, sparking the applicant's appeal to the OLT and eliminating the official public meeting that would have taken place at the September planning committee.

On Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2022, planning committee directed legal staff to not oppose the appeal.