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Old Posted Jun 24, 2016, 12:29 AM
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Hamilton Community News: 21 new Hamilton Mountain lookouts proposed

Vista management plan to wrap up in September

By Mark Newman | June 23, 2016

Dillon Consulting is recommending the city look at creating 21 new vistas or lookout points along the Niagara Escarpment from Mohawk Sports Park in the east to Scenic Park in the west.

“We looked at the entire escarpment brow for Wards 6, 7 and 8,” said Martina Braunstein, a landscape planner with the Kitchener-based firm.

Biologists and other officials from Dillon surveyed the area last fall and this past spring, checking out more than 100 potential vistas before reducing their list to 21 new sites and 31 existing lookout points as part of the city’s Mountain brow vista study and management plan.

Dillon presented their initial findings (PDF) to a public meeting of Ward 6 and 7 residents last December and gave an update at a second meeting on June 13.

A separate meeting for west Mountain residents is expected to be held at some point in the future.

Nine of the proposed new vistas are in Ward 6 along Mountain Brow Boulevard from Rendell Boulevard to Mohawk Sports Park.

Five of the vistas are in Ward 7 roughly between East 25th and East 39th.

The remaining seven are on the west Mountain including four along the brow between Scenic Park to just past Goulding Avenue and one each at Cliffview and Balfour parks.

“We’re only looking at public land,” noted Dillon project manager Eha Naylor.

Along with the new vistas the consultant is recommending the city maintain existing priority vistas along the escarpment brow, replant native large-stature trees in open areas and establish site-specific recommendations for removal and restoration.

A long-term recommendation would be to integrate the vista study with other escarpment initiatives as part of the Niagara Escarpment Parks and Open Space System management plan that would stretch from Albion Falls to Ancaster.

Naylor said any trimming or cutting would involve non-native trees and shrubs only.

Dillon is still collecting input for the master plan that will be presented to a final public meeting of east and central Mountain residents in September before it is brought before city councillors for debate.

Hamilton residents can offer their input via hamilton.ca until June 28.

East Mountain councillor Tom Jackson said he expects the final report in September to include costs estimates for maintaining the 21 new vistas, adding he’s not yet prepared to make any commitments until he sees those numbers.

Ward 7 councillor Donna Skelly said spending money on the new vistas would be an investment in the Mountain’s future.

“This will drive traffic up the Mountain and hopefully to businesses on the Mountain,” she said.



Mountain Brow Vista Study & Management Plan (PDF)


Mountain Brow Vista Study & Management Plan (PDF)


Mountain Brow Vista Study & Management Plan (PDF)
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