The Ontario government has announced new details about its plans for the mountain brow site of the former Hamilton Psychiatric Hospital.
The province’s plans call for a long-term care home that will house 256 residents across the street from Mohawk College’s Fennell Avenue campus.
Ward 8 Coun. John Paul Danko remains concerned with what will happen to the rest of the 12.5 hectare property, which the city has long envisioned as an institutional and employment hub.
Control over the property was taken away from the City of Hamilton in August 2020, when the provincial government issued its ministerial zoning order, and included residential housing among the future possibilities for redevelopment.
“Through the zoning order, the rest of the site could be developed up to 18-storey residential development,” says Danko, “which would be a significant change from what the city had identified as our goals for that property.”
Danko adds that the city has known for some time that the province planned to build a long-term care facility on the site, and he stresses that element “fits in perfectly” with the city’s vision.
In 2018, prior to the ministerial zoning order, the Progressive Conservative government nixed a three-party agreement involving the city, the province and Mohawk College that involved Ontario selling the former psychiatric hospital lands to the college for future expansion.
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