Niagara escarpment plan amendment application PW 218 20

Presently, there are two applications related to 574 Northcliffe Ave. going to the Ontario Land Tribunal.  One of these applications is to amend the Niagara Escarpment Plan (NEP) to permit a new use for the property, and the other application is seeking to develop the property (i.e., build on the property).   Here is a summary of what's being proposed:

• Operating the property as a private secondary school with a maximum of 1,000 students and 85 staff.
• Building a new 18,470 sq. ft. gymnasium.
• Expanding the existing onsite sewage treatment system significantly.

The building for the proposed school itself is an existing building, the former Sisters of St. Joseph convent.  While PVPA is supportive of repurposing the building, here are some of the reasons we strongly oppose the proposed 1,000-student school:

• The proposed school in this location would not be in service to the rural population nor the residents of Dundas. The proposed school should be co-located where the students reside, in downtown Hamilton, so municipal systems (such as wastewater treatment) and existing transportation systems can be leveraged.
• The proposed new use is a significant intensification of use (ex. 1085 people using the property each day as opposed to fewer than 100 sisters typical over the last few decades).  The NEP allows consideration of similar uses.  A secondary school for 1,000 students is not similar to a convent for 100 sisters.
• The area is environmentally sensitive and ecologically significant.  For example, it is a component of the last intact ecological connection between Lake Ontario wetlands and the Niagara Escarpment.  Replacing the open landscape character with a new large institutional building and bringing 1,000 people into the area each day would be harmful to the environment.  
• The proposed development would introduce new potential threat to natural steams and water supplies in the form of potential wastewater treatment system failure of a significantly larger system. Regardless of the proponent’s plans to mitigate the potential harm of sewage system failure (via monitoring), the first and most effective way to mitigate risk in the hierarchy of hazard control is to eliminate the risk, not introduce new risk. 
• Vehicle traffic congestion (particularly along York Road) would be greatly increased.  Regarding roads in particular, York Road will be negatively affected with an additional 240 vehicular trips per day during weekday peak hours.  The Transportation Impact Study that accompanies the NEP amendment application, indicates that certain intersections along York Road are currently experiencing capacity and safety issues, and without implementing countermeasures (such as adding signals), intersections will not operate within acceptable limits.
• Pleasant View has fewer than 800 residents.  Allowing 1,000 students and 85 staff to enter and exit the rural area every day will not only tax area roads, it will compromise the natural environment with pollution, noise and other side effects that come with urban encroachment.