Residents concerned over old Delta high school development

A group of people living near Hamilton’s old Delta high school are concerned about a proposal to redevelop the site. The New Horizon development group wants to add three mid-rise condo buildings along with townhouses to the property.

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People in the neighbourhood tell CHCH News they aren’t against the old school being turned into a housing development. They say the proposed plan adds too much density,
saying it could lead to another two to three thousand people living in the neighbourhood which they say is too many.

Delta Secondary is a heritage building so the proposal calls for saving it and turning it into residential units. The back half of the school which was added years later would be turned into three condo buildings with 11 to 14 stories mostly one and two-bedroom units, and underground parking. Stacked townhomes would also be built along the east, west, and south sides of the property.

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Jeff Paikin, the president of New Horizon development group says he understands why people might be worried, but says it will fit into the community, “it will not destroy the fabric of the neighbourhood, we have bounded the entire site with townhomes to be across the street from single-family homes.”

Some residents say three or four-story townhomes are too tall to be across from these older homes, “you’ve got two-story homes, one-story homes, they lose a lot of sunlight, they lose privacy, they lose a lot.”

New Horizon is holding a drop-in open house Tuesday at 5 p.m. at Delta where Paikin says he hopes to address community concerns.

CHCH News asked Paikin how many people he believes the development will add to the community and he says 1,500 using an average of one and a half people per unit, but also said he can’t say how many people will end up living in each unit.