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  #61  
Old Posted May 29, 2008, 2:58 AM
raisethehammer raisethehammer is offline
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Millstone....you're my new hero. You had NEVER been to Meadowlands until now??
I rarely go, but every so often the wife needs one of those lame stores....thankfully she's been finding other alternates downtown in the past year.
Anyhow, I hope you can sleep ok tonight after that experience.
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  #62  
Old Posted May 29, 2008, 3:06 AM
DC83 DC83 is offline
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^^ I only go to Meadowlands for Costco. The place makes me sick how ppl drive from store-to-store.

I actually have faith that once the 'C-Line' is built, given they choose Mohawk Rd, the Meadowlands will re-developpe into a dense area (again, a-la Don Mills Ctr in TO).

They designed this place like shit, but it has potential to be an 'Uptown Ancaster' just as Upper James/Fenell-Mohawk has the potential to be an 'Uptown Hamilton'.
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  #63  
Old Posted May 29, 2008, 4:40 AM
Millstone Millstone is offline
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Originally Posted by raisethehammer View Post
Millstone....you're my new hero. You had NEVER been to Meadowlands until now??
I rarely go, but every so often the wife needs one of those lame stores....thankfully she's been finding other alternates downtown in the past year.
Anyhow, I hope you can sleep ok tonight after that experience.
Yeah I really have no use for Ancaster, so I never go. I needed some groceries after hours and spotted the Sobeys sign from the 403, so I drove in that direction, and voila there's big box after box. It seems like such an inefficient use of space.

I suppose the clientele is there, though. Big box farms aren't really my thing.

I do like Lime Ridge Mall though.
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  #64  
Old Posted May 29, 2008, 10:55 AM
raisethehammer raisethehammer is offline
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not sure where you live, but FYI - the Barn in Westdale is 24-hours, as is the Barn in Rosedale.
DC83 - Hell will freeze over if Ancaster allowed their precious box hell to be turned into Uptown anywhere.

Last edited by SteelTown; May 29, 2008 at 11:43 PM.
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  #65  
Old Posted May 29, 2008, 1:04 PM
DC83 DC83 is offline
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Originally Posted by raisethehammer View Post
not sure where you live, but FYI - the Barn in Westdale is 24-hours, as is the Barn in Rosedale.
DC83 - Hell will freeze over if Ancaster allowed their precious box hell to be turned into Uptown anywhere.
hahaha maybe. I still keep faith tho.

They'd probably complain that condos/offices/retail ALONG Golf Links would ruin the 'view' of the Best Buy & Sportchek in the back! hahaha
"Now how am I suppose to txt, eat, and drive at the same time if I have to LOOK for stuff!?" ahahaha

Last edited by SteelTown; May 29, 2008 at 11:44 PM.
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  #66  
Old Posted May 29, 2008, 1:37 PM
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not sure where you live, but FYI - the Barn in Westdale is 24-hours, as is the Barn in Rosedale.
Yeah I know, just wasn't in that area at the time.
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  #67  
Old Posted May 31, 2008, 9:56 AM
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I wrote this a couple of years ago, but the city should work toward turning Upper James into a European-style boulevard:
here's a great example of the classic european boulevard:

upper james wouldn't look quite this sexy but we'd have nothing to lose. oh, this pic comes from www.carfree.com/design
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  #68  
Old Posted May 31, 2008, 5:23 PM
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Beating up on Ancaster is like a sport here--and frankly, it's old...seriously, we all know how you feel about it, move on.

On a more positive note--excellent photo of Barcelona--however, there are plenty of slightly less opulent examples in North America--many of which stem from the "City Beautiful" movement which gave rise to some of the great public spaces in Washington, Chicago and a host of other cities. I'm a big advocate of the approach and in my own little version of reality I would love to see a return to the perfection of form that accompanied City Beautiful. McQuesten left us with some tastes of this type of urban landscape architecture, thankfully.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_Beautiful_movement
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  #69  
Old Posted May 31, 2008, 10:13 PM
hamiltonguy hamiltonguy is offline
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I don't think anyone is beating up on Ancaster.

More on the Medowlands, and the Fergusons.
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  #70  
Old Posted Jun 1, 2008, 3:24 AM
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I beg to differ hamiltonguy--I've been reading the same criticisms and complaints and speculation for the entire time I've been active here. Whether I agree or disagree isn't relevant--it shows a lack of creativity and a negative focus--how many times can you repeat that you hate the Meadowlands and that the people who patronize the stores are suburban drones and that entire populations of people think en masse? Frankly, I'm pretty sure I know where everyone that wishes to be heard here stands on the issue--get creative with your arguments--or better yet--move on to something constructive.
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  #71  
Old Posted Jun 1, 2008, 10:12 PM
hamiltonguy hamiltonguy is offline
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Originally Posted by fastcarsfreedom View Post
I beg to differ hamiltonguy--I've been reading the same criticisms and complaints and speculation for the entire time I've been active here. Whether I agree or disagree isn't relevant--it shows a lack of creativity and a negative focus--how many times can you repeat that you hate the Meadowlands and that the people who patronize the stores are suburban drones and that entire populations of people think en masse? Frankly, I'm pretty sure I know where everyone that wishes to be heard here stands on the issue--get creative with your arguments--or better yet--move on to something constructive.
Keyword: "Medowlands". And quite frankly from the interaction i've had with people in the medowlands, suburban drones seems a good way to describe most of them.

One of them once told me Hamilton was "boring" and there wasn't much to do.

They had no clue about anything that happened in this town other than their neighbourhood and the Shopping Centre.

It's not Ancaster, but the one part of Ancaster, and the one subset of residents that people are complaining about.
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  #72  
Old Posted Jun 2, 2008, 2:25 AM
raisethehammer raisethehammer is offline
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The Meadowlands deserves every bit of crap it gets.
It sucks.
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  #73  
Old Posted Jun 2, 2008, 2:40 AM
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That's your opinion--and you're entitled. Nonetheless, it's the same thing over-and-over--the discussion/thread/forum goes absolutely no where--just the same people saying the same things and then congratulating each other--start a "Meadowlands Sucks" thread and have at it--this isn't even a thread about Ancaster and the same discussion has made its way here.
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  #74  
Old Posted Jun 13, 2008, 1:21 PM
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Green light for Mountain Plaza Mall redevelopment

By Mark Newman
News
Jun 13, 2008

The city's Committee of Adjustment has cleared the way for work to begin later this summer on the proposed $50 million redevelopment of Mountain Plaza Mall.

With Don Drury the only member to cast a dissenting vote, the committee last week approved a request by mall owner SmartCentres for 11 variances, including fewer parking spaces, at the Fennell and Upper James site. Most of the other adjustments had to deal with set-backs from sidewalks or private property.

"I'm very happy with the decision," said Christine Cote, land development manager for SmartCentres. "It was what we were requesting."

Under the redevelopment plan the new shopping centre will have 1022 parking spaces, about 178 fewer than exist there now. But that number is also much less then the minimum 1616 spaces required under city bylaws, hence the need the variance.

It was concern over the number of parking spaces that saw the committee last month table the variance requests pending more information.

Darren Hardenbrook, a parking and traffic consultant with iTrans hired by SmartCentres, told the committee their analysis indicates there will be sufficient parking available at the site following redevelopment.

Mr. Hardenbrook said according to a study done in June 2007 about 700 vehicles were parked at the mall during Saturday peak time hours. He noted that with the redevelopment, the demand is expected to grow to about 933 vehicles during peak demand periods, still about 89 short of the total spaces available.

"We're confident it will provide the sufficient parking supply necessary to support the redevelopment," he said.

In addition, Mr. Hardenbrook said most mall users park near the main entrance giving the impression that the parking lot is always full while many parking spots on the south-east side of the plaza remain empty.

The supplemental information package provided to the committee by iTrans states that a May 24, 2008 customer survey at the mall showed that nearly 70 percent of the 1714 people interviewed arrived at the plaza as either the driver or a passenger in a vehicle. The rest arrived by HSR, bicycle, on foot or some other method of transportation.

Ms. Cote said they hope to begin work on a new signalized intersection on Upper James, to be located between the two existing entrances, by late summer. Three new buildings, including a Shoppers Drug Mart are slated to start going up along Upper James this fall and be completed by next spring. Once the tenants are moved into the new buildings, Ms. Cote said part of the existing mall will be demolished and work will begin on the new, 130,000 square foot Wal-Mart either in 2009 or later.

The section of the plaza along Fennell is the only part of the mall that will not be torn down. Another new building, expected to be the new home of the Beer Store, will go up on the east side of that plaza.

Ms. Cote said the final phase of the redevelopment, retail space on the north-east side of the property, will go up in 2010 or 2011.

As with the meeting in May, several residents who live near the mall were on hand to voice concerns over parking, increased traffic volume and noise.

"I'm upset about it because I feel the value of my house is going to go way down," said Fennell Avenue resident Brenda Falco. "There's going to be a lot more traffic, I'll have a hard time getting out of my driveway, it's bad enough now as it is."

Ward 7 councilor Scott Duvall asked the committee to hold off making a decision until he could have a meeting with the area residents to address their concerns but his request was denied.

Mr. Duvall said he received few calls from the community about the redevelopment until a May 23 article in the Mountain News generated about 16 calls from concerned neighbours.

Steve Robichaud, manager of development planning with the City of Hamilton, said residents can appeal the committee's decision to the Ontario Municipal Board, but they must provide a planning-related argument for their case. There is $125 cost to appeal and residents have 20 days once the committee's decision is mailed out to the surrounding neighbourhoods.

Mr. Robichaud said the site plan for the redevelopment has been approved with the usual standard conditions including a request for SmartCentres to show how the site will be serviced, as well as submit a landscaping plan, a storm water management plan and a lighting plan.
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  #75  
Old Posted Jun 13, 2008, 9:14 PM
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look at the bullshit the City planners get involved in..... parking, landscaping (will they demand Junipers instead of Cedars?), storm water, setbacks (making sure they are far enough rather then meeting the street).

Nothing about how the whole thing functions in a community, the design, building materials, pedestrians, cycling, transit, integration into a city at large, multi-uses.

No of course not, they want to make sure there is enough pavement to accommodate the two busiest Saturdays of the year, and that there is no alleys or hiding spots to make sure the Police never have to leave their cars, and that there are little useless berms of landscaping to 'trick' us into believing we're shopping in the wilderness?

Better make sure you use the right colour yellow paint on the parking spaces but who gives a shit about what the stucco looks like or if there are windows and doors facing the street. Lighting? Yeah like their concern is whether the light fixtures are pleasant on the eyes, human scaled, or do they cast enough billions of candlewatt mercury vapour lighting from 75 feet up --- again for Police surveillance.
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  #76  
Old Posted Jun 13, 2008, 9:40 PM
hamiltonguy hamiltonguy is offline
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The thing I found surprising was that Smart Centres fought to have less parking and to have buildings closer to the street.

Since when have they been this good?
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  #77  
Old Posted Jun 13, 2008, 9:41 PM
markbarbera markbarbera is offline
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The city bylaw for determining minimum number of parking spaces needs to be overhauled. The formula requires a number far exceeding the number actually required in an urban environment. And, the bylaw is actually impeding development, particularly in the downtown core.
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  #78  
Old Posted Jun 13, 2008, 9:57 PM
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I wonder what's gonna happen with Valentino's and TGs. Relocate to the plaza along Fennell? TGs is a popular hang out, well really most of the mall is a hang out.

I have a lot of memories at Mountain Plaza, my mom would buy me pizza and pop at Valentino's and she would shop at Biway directly across. My first bank account was at TD that's now Blockbuster. I haven't stepped inside for probably over 10 years now haha.
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  #79  
Old Posted Jun 14, 2008, 1:46 AM
the dude the dude is offline
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Originally Posted by realcity View Post
look at the bullshit the City planners get involved in..... parking, landscaping (will they demand Junipers instead of Cedars?), storm water, setbacks (making sure they are far enough rather then meeting the street).

Nothing about how the whole thing functions in a community, the design, building materials, pedestrians, cycling, transit, integration into a city at large, multi-uses.

No of course not, they want to make sure there is enough pavement to accommodate the two busiest Saturdays of the year, and that there is no alleys or hiding spots to make sure the Police never have to leave their cars, and that there are little useless berms of landscaping to 'trick' us into believing we're shopping in the wilderness?

Better make sure you use the right colour yellow paint on the parking spaces but who gives a shit about what the stucco looks like or if there are windows and doors facing the street. Lighting? Yeah like their concern is whether the light fixtures are pleasant on the eyes, human scaled, or do they cast enough billions of candlewatt mercury vapour lighting from 75 feet up --- again for Police surveillance.
exactamente...city planners...ya, right. 1000 parking spaces, let alone 1600, is completely mental. even smart centres knows better! in this day and age it defies any logic. also, i think this project should be halted and readdressed given that it'll be adjacent to a rapid transit route. it's a great opportunity lost...again.
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  #80  
Old Posted Jun 14, 2008, 6:57 AM
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exactamente...city planners...ya, right. 1000 parking spaces, let alone 1600, is completely mental. even smart centres knows better! in this day and age it defies any logic. also, i think this project should be halted and readdressed given that it'll be adjacent to a rapid transit route. it's a great opportunity lost...again.
Urban planners aka parking planners are going to run into difficulty as a group in the near future.
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