Controversial Charlton condos going ahead after escarpment compromise

A controversial multi-storey condo project at the foot of the escarpment will open its sales centre "any day now" after striking a settlement with the Niagara Escarpment Commission, a relieved development team said Tuesday. 

"We're very excited," said Ron Van Kleef, president of Hamilton Cab and owner of the land where the project will be built. "It's been a long haul."

I always thought that something could be done in the property.- Ron Van Kleef

The commission had appealed the city's approval of the project to the Ontario Municipal Board, saying the project was too intrusive on escarpment views.

But a settlement struck in May allowed the project to go ahead without being subject to a full OMB hearing later this year. 

Among the terms of the settlement, the developers agreed to push the mechanical top level of the buildings back from the road.

• READ MORE: Controversial Charlton condo project hits escarpment view roadblock
• READ MORE: ​Controversial Charlton condo project clears zoning hurdle

Van Kleef bought the land nearly 20 years ago and has been working on this project for nearly five. 

The property is on a terraced piece of lower escarpment land above the Rail Trail in the southern edge of the Stinson neighbourhood.

The parcel was previously a bowling alley before it was a transportation depot. The city's zoning change last fall converted the property from its industrial use to allow for multi-unit housing use.

"I bought this property when no one wanted it in 1997 and used it for my business purposes," Van Kleef said. "I always thought that something could be done in the property."

'How you manage change on that resource'

The city had raised similar concerns about the impact on views before it granted approval to rezone the land from industrial use to residential, and the developer had made some changes. 

Those include changing the number of storeys in the project to comprise two six-storey buildings and one five-storey building instead of all three the same height. 

In approving the project last September, elected city officials were balancing protecting the escarpment with a slate of other municipal and provincial development goals.

"Obviously [the escarpment] is a valuable resource," said Steve Robichaud, the city's director of planning, last fall. "How you manage change on that resource is what we're concerned with."

The project fits the city's and province's goals for growth in the region, is near downtown and transit and is a new use for a former industrial and commercial, or brownfield, site.