‘Putting People First,’ Downtown Hamilton Secondary Plan wins Award of Excellence
‘Putting People First,’ Downtown Hamilton Secondary Plan wins Award of Excellence
August 8, 2019
The City of Hamilton is the recipient of a Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP) Award of Excellence in the City and Regional Planning category, for Putting People First: A New Land Use Plan and Zoning By-law for Downtown Hamilton.
The plan features an integration of planning approaches and multiple implementation tools to achieve a new vision for downtown Hamilton. It includes an Official Plan Amendment, Secondary Plan and an updated zoning by-law guidelines for tall buildings.
On behalf of the City, SvN authored the Downtown Hamilton Tall Buildings Study and Guidelines – the companion document to Putting People First, which was adopted by City Council in February 2018. The document established a planning framework that guides where tall buildings are appropriate. It also provides clarity around how mitigation strategies are to be evaluated, and includes specific design guidance around building height, massing, fit and relationship to context, urban form, heritage, and specificity to updating zoning by-laws while preserving character areas and view-sheds of the Niagara Escarpment.
The annual CIP awards, which recognize innovation, impact on the profession, overall presentation and implementation potential, represent the highest level of recognition the Institute bestows on professional planning projects.