The City of Hamilton Plan 2015 offers more flexibility to developers, according to the director of the Department of Planning.

Aideen Ratteray Pryse told The Royal Gazette that it places greater emphasis on repurposing buildings than new development and also focuses more on “community gain in the public realm”.

The plan, which was rubber-stamped by senators on Monday, replaces the 2001 one for the city, with the exception of Northeast Hamilton, which as a distinct area has its own designs under way.

“This plan is more a plan of our current time with also the ability to guide development that may come along depending on how our economy goes,” Ms Ratteray Pryse said.

“At the time of the 2001 plan, there was a lot of pressure for development in Bermuda and the buildings that you see now came up during the late nineties and early 2000s.

“That was fine for that time but we don’t have that same economic environment now.

“We really had to look at what flexibility we could provide in the plan for people who had buildings that were underutilised or people who wanted to develop but felt that some of the restrictions that had applied in the 2001 plan, it would be better if they had opportunities both from a design point of view and a financial viability point of view to do things a little differently.” To address the challenge of underutilised floor space, she said the Board had been given discretion to approve different uses.

“And we’ve put in flexibility with respect to standards that would normally apply, which won’t necessarily apply for people looking to make that kind of transition from floor space that isn’t working for them, to floor space that might possibly work for them. For example, if someone has a building they built for commercial purposes and it’s now empty and they think that they can make residential units out of it or might be able to make live/work spaces out of it, subject to compliance with the building code, which is far more of a hurdle than the planning statement, there would be some flexibility; things like no need to provide amenities space or worry about parking, that kind of thing.” The plan has also identified areas where existing buildings could be made higher without impacting the Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity, which has limited building heights in the past.

“We realised that in some areas, because of the topography, you could in fact build a bigger building than we normally thought you would be able to,” Ms Ratteray Pryse said.

“So instead of being quite broad in specifying a view corridor, what we now look to for guidance is the aspect and prospect, which is the view to and the view from the cathedral, in making a decision regarding building height and those areas identified as having bonus floors, we already know we are going to be OK relative to the cathedral.”

Also new to the plan is the formation of the Futures Committee, which is not a statutory body, but consists of representatives from the Corporation of Hamilton, the Department of Planning, residents, business owners, the Chamber of Commerce and the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation.

“It’s really there to focus on more short-term action plans for things that can result in improvements to the city, be it in park spaces or streetscapes,” Ms Ratteray Pryse explained.

“There was a recognition that a development plan can be a bit of a static document but in between development plans, other things need to happen that often require collaboration and it’s one way of fostering that on an ongoing basis.”

She added that an ongoing consideration has been the “shared street concept”, which helps make streets “safe for everyone with a slight change in focus from the car to the pedestrian”.

The plan will take effect on August 8.

• To read the City of Hamilton Plan in full, click on the PDF under “Related Media”