Hamilton councillors reverse course after opposing demolition of vacant, deteriorating homes
CBC
There's hope for owners of three vacant Hamilton houses who want to tear them down.
After the planning committee rejected demolition requests for two homes, side-by-side, on Upper James Street, a busy commercial stretch, council reversed course.
It "makes absolutely no sense" to think council could force an owner to renovate them so they can be rented out when he has future plans to tear them down to make way for a large development, said Coun. Mike Spadafora, who was weighing in for the first time as he's not a member of the planning committee.
These houses need "to be torn down .... instead of allowing fires, black mould and everything else," Spadafora said.
Coun. Brad Clark toured inside one of the houses leading up to the council vote Wednesday and agreed, noting the owner, Bill Johnston, president of KTJ Investments Limited, had purchased the homes in already "horrific conditions."
Clark is also not on the planning committee.
"He keeps boarding up the buildings and people keep going inside," Clark said. "They keep setting fires in the basement to stay warm and he's afraid the building is going to catch fire with people in or the floor is going to collapse and he has full liability."
The city's current demolition bylaw requires developers to have submitted plans to build something new within two years to get a permit, says a staff report. Otherwise, they need to get special permission from councillors.
Planning committee, where the requests go before council's final vote, was divided on demolition, with some councillors arguing developers shouldn't be allowed to tear down housing unless they have real intentions to start building. In a 5-5 split, councillors defeated the request.
Coun. Tammy Hwang voted against demolition, but changed her mind at council after speaking with Johnston about his plans for the properties. She said he's working with a developer on a plan for a building with both commercial and residential units.
"It is imminent," she said of the development.
Council voted unanimously Wednesday to allow the demolition of both Upper James homes with Hwang, Nrinder Nann, Alex Wilson and Maureen Wilson switching from opposing it at the planning committee.
Mayor Andrea Horwath and Coun. Craig Cassar were not present.
The owners of 85 Catharine St. N. had also applied to tear a single-family house down, which was similarly denied by the planning committee.
After walking a few laps around the shop, Maria Castagna picks up a glass ornament in the form of a pink, sparkly ice cream cone and smiles widely.
Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham says he has much unfinished work from his first term in office, as he prepares to make his pitch to voters ahead of the 2026 election.
Moving to Canada from Singapore meant losing close social connections for Iris Akbar, but Akbar says the gift was in finding an affirming space with friends that became like family.
Women and children staying at Regina Transition House now have access to Santa’s workshop — a safe space where mothers can choose Christmas gifts for their children.
A man from Powell River, B.C., is thankful to be alive after a stranger helped him while he was choking at a restaurant during a visit to Whistler.
When it comes to Hamilton readers' favourite library books of 2025, romance and mysteries are in close competition.
From the Detroit Lions losing to Apple iPhones that spontaneously update, Windsorites had things that bugged them this year.
Calgary emergency rooms are “in a state of critical overcapacity” ahead of the anticipated peak of flu season — and to cope with the surge and wait-room crowding, officials are urging doctors to speed up their decisions on whether to admit patients, according to a memo obtained by CBC News.
Northern Ontario's highway system needs improvements in order to make travel safer, a highway safety advocate said.
Hundreds of thousands of used tires are piling up across Ontario as some companies responsible for tire recycling have stopped processing tires amid reduced provincial recycling regulations for tire producers, industry experts say.
People in Guelph facing homelessness will soon have a new place to go during the day.
Islanders are reminded to plan their rides ahead of holiday festivities if they plan on drinking alcohol or using cannabis.
Even before Gwen Healey Akearok began her new role as Nunavut’s Minister of Family Services, she was tuning into the Office of the Auditor General’s (OAG) hearings on the state of the Family Services department.