The City of Hamilton is updating the design of their development notice boards and letters in an effort to make them more understandable to the public.
Development public notice boards are erected on a property when a new planning application is filed, and notification letters are mailed to surrounding homeowners.
The design change, which comes into effect on July 1, 2025, was suggested for a number of reasons, say city staff.
For example, staff note that the current sign template has remained unchanged for an “extended period, lacks colour, and visual interest.”
The white signs, which have small black text, are also vertical in orientation, which the city says results in a sign that is 10 feet high and not at eye level.
A report notes that the current signs also contain “a significant amount of text,” “language used is often technical in nature,” and the location map does not include any visual of the proposal.
Staff add that installed signs are also not always readable from the street, that there is a lack of consistency with sign placement on a property, text updates were not always completed in a professional manner, and signage was not always removed after a Council decision was made.
As a result, the city’s Communications and Strategic Initiatives Team completely redesigned the Public Notice sign template, which the city says “is more modern, informative, eye-catching, uses plain language,” and even meets Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) standards.
The new design also incorporates a three-dimensional image of the proposed development within the existing neighbourhood.
Staff will also be preparing a user guide that contains all sign requirements and specifications.
Staff have also changed the design of mail notices in a similar manner to make them easier for the public to understand.
In another change, the City of Hamilton will also be increasing the circulation radius for public notice mailouts for the Notice of Complete Application, Notice of Public Meeting, and public consultation notices mailed out by planning applicants.
Currently, applicants must send letters to everyone within 120 metres of any proposals, but that radius will now be increased to 240 metres.
As a result of the change, the average cost per application type will increase and the increased costs will be added to the 2025 Planning Division Fee Schedule.
The city calculated the average cost increase per application type to be $395 for Official Plan Amendment applications, $550 for Zoning By-Law Amendment applications, $380 for Draft Plan of Subdivision applications, and $485 for Draft Plan of Condominium – Public Process applications.
The radius change has drawn the ire of the West End Home Builders’ Association (WE HBA), a group which represents 320 member companies involved in land development and residential construction.
The group wrote a letter to the city, which reads, “Amidst the current collapse of market housing starts, adding additional costs is another disincentive for developers in Hamilton to choose to invest in this city, and makes it incrementally more difficult for developers to move projects forward.”
The City of Hamilton, and indeed the country, is in the midst of a housing shortage.
At the same time, population estimates from the Government of Ontario’s Ministry of Finance project that Hamilton will have a population of over 903,000 people by 2051.
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
